Shifting Generations
Unpacking Public Perceptions of Intergenerational Care: Is It All Roses?
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Katrina radford Radford, Nerina Vecchio, Janna Anneke Fitzgerald, Xanthe Golenko
The demand for intergenerational care programs is growing rapidly, with many new innovative services on offer globally. While there is increasing interest in intergenerational care programs, no research has examined public perceptions of these programs, whether individuals would use intergenerational care programs and why. This paper discusses the results of a national survey (N=1460) that examines the demand for intergenerational care programs in Australia. The results of this study revealed that 71.3% of respondents would use intergenerational care programs if they were available. Reasons for not wanting this type of care service ranged from personal reasons (such as, “I would want to be with people my own age”), to a lack of perceived value in the program (“I feel integrated care detracts from each groups’ needs”), to a concern regarding the health and safety of participants (“I'm just concern(ed)… with their safety and health”) and satisfaction with the current mode of care (“I'm happy with how I currently care for the person I care for”). This paper introduces a deeper understanding of both sides of the story which may assist in developing meaningful policies when introducing innovative care programs.
Aging Australian Landscape: Access to Services for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Australians
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Helen E Ceperkovic, Robert I Ceperkovic
In the immediate period after Federation, the newly formed Australian government recognised the rights of the elderly to have a dignified life. The 1908 introduction of an aged pension was the starting point of governmental services for this segment of society. Further government policies through the next 100 years have had a profound effect on the cultural composition of the Australian population, and thus its elderly. This paper evaluates Australian aged-care policies and demography of the Australian population. Analysis of documents, inclusive of aged-care policies and census data, places access to services into focus. A culturally diverse nation requires policies to support and reflect the needs and abilities of all members of the society. Integration, unity, and cohesiveness are key features of Australia's multicultural policies but these are insufficient when looking at the needs of aging Australians. Thus there are far-reaching implications of this paper both for policy makers and and provision of aged-care support.
Involuntarily Childless Elderly in China and Britain: A Cross-cultural Perspective
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Chao Fang
According to "The Economist" (2017), childlessness has been a growing social phenomenon in many societies. In relation to aging, childless elderly could be more vulnerable facing challenges from various aspects in their old age (Miall, 1986). More particularly, a group of elderly people, who struggle from involuntary childlessness, may have to confront even more pressures from the broader socio-cultural environments as well as themselves, including, stigma, marginalization, and exclusion (Van Balen, 2009). However, research on the aging lives of these involuntarily childless elderly still remains untouched. Therefore, this study chooses two socio-culturally distinctive countries, China and the United Kingdom, to snapshot the everyday lives of these elderly and issues that they may confront along with their aging process. According to a Chinese national census in 2013, it was estimated that there were one million childless households following the death of an only child as an unforeseen consequence of the One-Child Policy. Meanwhile, according to a British government statistic in 2017, nearly one in five women in England and Wales born in 1971 have no children at all, compared to one in ten of their mother's generation. Media have reported that there are a growing number of women and their partners in Britain whose childlessness is involuntary. Therefore, this study uses primary interviews from China as well as secondary materials from Britain to explore the socio-cultural differences on the lives of aging, childless elderly in terms of the relationships between the individual and the broader social structures.
