Aging & Social Change: Fourteenth Interdisciplinary Conference

Abstract

This study asks how well a new form of preventative care provision —dancing with care (DWC) - promotes social inclusion for older women in China. It aims to explore whether DWC could be regarded as an effective way to solve challenges that older women face in improving social involvement bases on healthy lifestyle. This study argues different dimensions of DWC contribute to improving older women’s social involvement conditions, including happiness, social network involvement, social support for preventative care service, and regard of grandchild as a social adhesive, and it adheres to preventative care formulation that older women positively need in urban community. Using semi-structured interviews in selected DWC communities, located in south China, this study proposes that the DWC communities were able to contribute greatly to including their older women’s preventative care needs. It suggests an attractive option for older women to be included into the active social inclusion in the community and provides a better understanding of the role of a new preventative care provision which could act as a reference for promoting social involvement of older people worldwide.