关键词: 老龄人口, 居家养老, 精神慰藉, 农村地区

Abstract:

The support of the rural aged is the important issue that needs urgent solution in the 21st century. Taking the rural area of Cixi city, Zhejiang province as a case study, we probe into the home care characteristics of the rural aged in the coastal developed areas. The results are drawn as follows: (1) The most important issue of housing conditions for rural aged is the low possession rate of infrastructure and supporting facilities and small per-capita housing area. The possession rate of infrastructure and supporting facilities, such as washing machine, fixed-line telephones, refrigerator, air conditioner, and water heater does not exceed 30%. Some 9.46% of the aged have a per capita housing area less than 15 m². (2) Most of the rural aged are living in a regular lifestyle. But the quality of their leisure behavior is not high because of their low education and weakly active ability. Popular and easy recreational activities, such as watching TV and listening to the radio are the main entertainments of the aged. There are only 26.9%, 3.4% and 1.7% of the aged who often take part in activities in multi-functional rooms, outdoor sports and universities for the aged, respectively. (3) There are few elderly people living with their children. Only 13.9% of the aged live with their children, and most of the aged live together with their spouses or live alone. Some 26.9% and 36.3% of the aged can not receive help from their relatives or friends when they need some help. The living of the left-behind aged in the rural area is noteworthy. (4) The economical conditions of most rural old people are featured by low incomes and low expenditures. The average annual income and expenditure of the rural aged are 3160 yuan and 3024 yuan, respectively. They can manage to make ends meet. But the Engel's coefficient of the aged is more than 80%, which is two times the average value of the whole city. (5) More than half of the aged suffer from various chronic diseases. They have poor self-sufficiency and need Custodial treatment to varying degrees. Thus they cannot afford to see the doctor when they are ill. More than 10% of the aged have some difficulty using telephone and public transportation facilities, managing finance, climbing stairs or going shopping alone. Some 75.67% of the aged need to be looked after to some extent. The number of the aged who can see the doctor on their own initiative when they are ill only occupies 25.33% of those that should receive treatment. (6) Very few aged people desire to live out their twilight years in social welfare. Almost all of the aged have heavy demand for community services, such as housework, house daycare, family doctor, and chat for diversion. But only 3% of the aged have used these services. Some 7.7% of the aged felt lonely because they live alone and some of their spiritual demands cannot be met.

Key words: the aged, home care, need for leisure, the rural area