Ageing and Society Additional services for Ageing and Society: Veiled entrapment: a study of social isolation of older Chinese migrants in Brisbane, Queensland (original) (raw)
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Veiled entrapment: a study of social isolation of older Chinese migrants in Brisbane, Queensland
This paper presents the findings of a study of the support and service needs of older Chinese people in Brisbane, the capital city of Queensland, Australia. There were two specific objectives : to ascertain the problems encountered by older Chinese-Australians in their daily lives and social activities ; and to develop policy and service development recommendations, with a view to mitigating their problems, meeting their unmet needs, improving their quality of life, and enhancing their participation in Australian society. The study used multiple methods, including a literature review, focus group meetings, and a community survey. The findings indicate that older Chinese people, and particularly women, experience significant restrictions in their activity patterns, social isolation and loneliness. Their lack of proficiency in the English language, and the difficulties they have in accessing language-support and interpretation services, limit their autonomous mobility and make them heavily dependent on their adult children, not least for transport. Their physical and psychological wellbeing is affected further by strained relations with their adult children, and these are compounded by financial concerns. The implications of the findings for welfare policy and practice are discussed at the end of the paper.
Exploring the Social and Health Needs of Chinese Baby Boomer Migrants in Brisbane, Australia
2020
Australia’s population is ageing rapidly with growing demands for health and aged care services. Providing these ageing populations with adequate, affordable and sustainable healthcare poses significant challenges for the government. It is even more challenging to plan for the upcoming large number of ageing and retiring baby boomers born between 1946 to 1964, who are the first generation to face the new ‘third’ age: a decade or two of longer life after retirement. Current aged care planning is largely based on data collected from previous generations with little focus on this bulging baby boomer generation, whose experiences and expectations greatly differ from those of the previous generations. Among the Australian baby boomer cohort are the growing culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) populations. Previous studies demonstrate that Australia’s CALD migrants’ social circumstances, language and cultural issues result in programs delivered failing to meet their needs. But few...
The Gerontologist, 2021
Background and Objectives Australia’s population is growing, ageing, and becoming more ethnically diverse, resulting in barriers and challenges around social inclusion for non-English speaking migrants and refugees. This scoping review investigates the experiences of ageing within Australia among older adults from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) migrant and refugee backgrounds to identify barriers to social integration. Research Design and Methods A scoping review of English-language literature and grey literature on the experiences of ageing among CALD migrant and refugees living in Australia was conducted from January 2000 to January 2021, according to Arksey and O’Malley’s review process. A total of 34 studies were identified for analysis. Results Three primary themes were identified: (i) socio-cultural similarities in settlement experiences; (ii) engagement with technology for social connection; and (iii) engagement with family and community networks. Discussion and...
Aotearoa New Zealand Social Work, 2020
INTRODUCTION: According to Census 2013, approximately 25% of Auckland’s population is Asian, with the majority of these being Chinese. Given that Aotearoa New Zealand’s population is ageing, it can be expected that there will a significant demand for aged services for Chinese older adults in our local community in the future. Exploring the language barrier encountered by retired and aged (65+) Chinese migrants living in Auckland is needed. METHOD: Two focus groups were interviewed with retired Chinese migrants (group 1) and local social service practitioners (group 2). The focus group topics included the living experience of Chinese migrants in Auckland in Aotearoa New Zealand, while local social service practitioners reported their daily work experience of serving Chinese older adults. A short, warm-up, oral questionnaire stimulated discussion in each group. Data analysis was used to identify themes and draw tentative conclusions about the needs of older migrants and suggest how ...
2012
In an increasingly globalised world, the challenges of meeting the health and social needs of older people from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds is becoming increasingly important, with the World Health Organisation stating that designing for diversity is a primary characteristic of an age friendly city (World Health Organization [WHO], 2007). In Australia, the importance of meeting the needs of CALD older people has been recognised at all levels of government and is one of the features of the current proposed Australian Government aged care reforms (Chenoweth, Jeon, Goff & Burke, 2006; Commonwealth of Australia, 2012; Radermacher, Karunarathna, Grace & Feldman, 2011). This paper explores the challenges and opportunities of CALD ageing, building on an earlier scoping study of ageing and cultural diversity (Bartlett, Rao & Warburton, 2006) which included a comprehensive review of the literature (Rao, Warburton & Bartlett, 2006) and analysis of the implications...
Connecting older Chinese people to mainstream services in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
China Journal of Social Work, 2018
This article presents the issues and challenges facing older Chinese immigrants in accessing mainstream services in Edmonton, Alberta, in Western Canada. A partnership was developed to advance knowledge in better understanding the provision of social services to this population. The study aimed to develop a comprehensive understanding of the needs of older Chinese immigrants and possible systems that would benefit from collaborative action and strategic engagement. Qualitative research was used to understand these issues with service providers in mainstream and immigrant-serving organisations and with Older Chinese from their perspectives. The awareness and access to mainstream services and information, perceptions of services, system improvements and use of social media are discussed. The article concludes with suggestions on how mainstream organisations can address diversity to better meet the needs of ethno-culturally diverse older immigrants in their programming and the implications for practice.
Health and Social Care in the Community, 2018
Ageing does not reduce people's need to connect with family members, friends, and acquaintances, and neither does migration. For those older migrants living in a foreign land, connectedness with others plays a particularly important role in achieving a sense of belonging and sustaining their health and well‐being. This paper explores the issues of social isolation and loneliness among older Asian migrants in New Zealand. Data were collected from in‐depth semi‐structured interviews with Chinese‐ or Korean‐speaking migrants aged between 75 and 84 years (n = 10: all females), and from three focus groups consisting of Chinese‐ and Korean‐speaking migrants (n = 10: 7 females, 3 males) and Chinese professionals (n = 5: 3 females, 2 males) between June 2016 and December 2016. The qualitative data obtained were analysed applying a thematic analysis approach using NVivo software for group analysis by a multidisciplinary research team. The findings from the study show that older Asian migrants experienced high levels of isolation and loneliness at least at some points in their migrant lives. Most participants in this study were living alone or with only their spouse, and this living arrangement was likely to provide fertile ground for isolation and loneliness to grow in the context of later‐life migration. It was also observed that their lonely ageing ironically resulted from their efforts to preserve family relationships through avoiding being a burden, while allowing them a sort of space to maintain now barely connected lives. The participants revealed multiple ways of coping with lonely and isolated experiences in their limited social network, and these individual strategies allow us to make suggestions about how best to reduce older migrants’ social isolation and loneliness in the New Zealand context and beyond.
Chinese community-dwelling elders' needs: promoting ageing in place
International nursing review, 2014
'Ageing in place' is widely promoted as a response to global ageing and increased demand for services, but little evidence is available about what older people think they need in terms of services and supports to remain at home. To investigate older people's needs when ageing in place in order to provide evidence to inform policies and strategies promoting the option of ageing in place. A total of 568 elderly persons in Hangzhou, China, were surveyed in 2009-2011 using a modified questionnaire validated in the USA and China. Overall, 88.9% of older adults were satisfied with the community in which they live; 97.2% were satisfied with life quality. Health problems and healthcare access difficulty increased with age. House repairs and housework were the most troubling. Respondents identified high need for social and health promotion services and this varied across age groups. Cultural adaptation and validation of the questionnaire could have been influenced by differences in socioeconomic and cultural factors. The sample excluded older adults with disabilities, bed-ridden and/or unable to communicate thus limiting the scope of relevance. A majority of older adult respondents ageing at home lived a relatively healthy life; however, they required more comprehensive health insurance to cover costs of long-term health problems and access to home care support. The needs of community-dwelling older Chinese people in the Xiacheng District are not being fully met and much remains be done to increase community and regional capacity before ageing in place can be promoted as a policy strategy. More generally, nursing and health policies geared to enhance the self-sufficiency of older people residing in their communities must draw upon evidence of assessed needs and client perspectives of their requirements before services can be designed and delivered.