Against the backdrop of successful family planning in China, the aging of the society’s population is increasing. With the increasing number of older adults, the support of the elderly has become a significant issue for society. Filial piety and respect for the elderly are the fundamentals of Chinese society and its long history. One aspect of filial piety focused on the responsibilities of the family in eldercare. It advocates that the elderly need not only material help but also spiritual comfort and emotional support. This culture of filial piety in a traditional Chinese society illustrates a path for responding to problems of the aging population. However, with the advent of an industrialized society, China’s family structure has undergone fundamental changes. There is an increasing trend of families choosing to send the elders to long-term institutional care rather than home or community care. This has led to conflict between traditional filial piety principles and the new model of aging healthcare. As a result, it is important to understand whether the new institutional care in China will meet the material and spiritual needs of the elderly. This paper aims to examine how Chinese values connect with eldercare treatments nowadays with the interplay of filial piety Confucian familism. More specifically, this paper discusses how Confucian values play in the relationship among eldercare locations, accessibility to care, and how filial piety has been expressed in the senior home before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in China. Also, since the available data on service and quality in nursing homes in China is limited, it is important to understand what administrators and caregivers are experiencing as a first step.
This paper examines the following issues during the COVID-19 outbreak.
1. To what extent does Filial-piety Confucian familism play a role in young and elder generation’s attitudes regarding elder health care?
2. What challenges do the nursing homes face before and during the pandemic?
3. How was filial-piety expressed in the nursing home before and during the pandemic?
Methodology and Methods
This project conducted a total of 15 in-depth interviews with selected interviewees, including
both selected administrators and caregivers in five nursing homes in Shanghai, China. As the
researcher was born and raised in Shanghai, the insights for this research came partially from
the real-life experience and a personal understanding of Chinese culture. The researcher
conducted this qualitative study in Shanghai during the time when there were restrictions on
travel and interaction due to COVID-19. Regarding the location specialty, the researcher was
able to conduct interviews in Shanghainese and observe the cultural rituals inherent in the
region. The interviews were conducted to observe examples of experiences that
administrators and caregivers observed or participated in. As such, the results are based on
examples more so that opinions or attitudes. All interviews were recruited through email
exchanges and discussions were over WeChat (a Chinese communication app) and phone
calls due to the pandemic restrictions.
Key Findings
This study found that numerous young people in China chose to place their parents in nursing
homes due to busy work schedules, house demolitions, and the need for long-term medical
care for their parents. However, senior care institutions are still in the stage of exploration
and standardization. Inevitably, there are some problems, including a shortage of professional
medical staff and a limited level of medical services that can be provided.
It was found that this new and flourishing model of elderly care is also facing a series of
problems that are prevalent around the world, such as high bed vacancy rate, endless
psychological problems of the elderlies, and increased operating costs of nursing homes. This
information has led us to question whether the elders are living well and to try to understand
views of nursing homes and filial piety. We found that most elders have gradually changed
their traditional concept of filial piety to a more modern one. The administrators and
caregivers we interviewed said that “filial piety” is a respect from the heart, a mutual
emotional exchange and understanding. It possesses equality and democracy between two
generations. Their comments suggest that more elderly people living in nursing homes have
low attachment to traditional notions of filial piety. In contrast, more children have a solid
attachment to traditional filial piety because they struggled mentally before sending their
parents to a nursing home.
In addition, the study found that filial piety was expressed differently before and during
COVID-19. Prior to the pandemic, the administrators and caregivers suggested that
individuals were more inclined to fulfill practical obligations and compassionate reverence
needs. Whereas, during the pandemic, filial piety was expressed less practically and more
emotionally due to the closure of institutions.
Future Research
Further studies should expand the sample size by including more nursing homes in various
districts of Shanghai. It would be helpful if researchers can interview the caregivers and
administrators in person and visit some of the care homes to gather other information on the
unique needs of clients and families. Further studies could seek to discover how filial piety
plays a role in the nursing home after the pandemic has passed. The challenges of the aging
models can be further analyzed and recognized through exploring public policies and the
needs of China’s overall society. For example, China's future pension system might need to
respond to how filial piety evolves. A comprehensive pension security system based on
current filial views could be established where children might play different roles in the older
adults' material life, care, and spiritual comfort.
This research offers suggestions to consider in future research relating to finding a role for
elderly care homes in society in reducing some of the negative perceptions of these homes,
developing a model that meets the needs of elderly and children, and training and developing
staff. Firstly, research might seek to understand how to address some of the negative
perceptions of the nursing homes and, possibly, change the view that nursing homes do not
mean an abandonment of the elderly. Rather, research might seek to illustrate ways that
nursing homes might implement a modern version of filial piety which provides a way that
elderly can live in a care home as well as participating with their children in their family
homes. Secondly, the study might get input into a template or model for designing nursing
homes to recognize the evolving changes and pressures on traditional views of filial piety. As
needs of children and elderly in a society have changed, so have their expectation of filial
piety and, given these changes, how do we develop elderly institutions to respond to the
economic needs of children and society at large? Thirdly, the research might investigate the
response to the concerns raised from administrators about the shortage of trained staff. This
might involve identifying needs of qualified care professional and encouraging their training
and developing in colleges, vocational and technical colleges, secondary vocational schools,
and county vocational education centers. / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uvic.ca/oai:dspace.library.uvic.ca:1828/13647 |
| Date | 23 December 2021 |
| Creators | Jin, Jiahui |
| Contributors | Cunningham, J. Barton |
| Source Sets | University of Victoria |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | Available to the World Wide Web |
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