?Research on rural elderly care issues in the context of rural revitalization strategy
Abstract: The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China pointed out that agricultural and rural issues are fundamental issues of the national economy and people's livelihood. To achieve rural revitalization, the issue of "empty nesters" must be the focus of the party's work. Rural elderly care services are an important part of the rural social security system, related to the happiness of thousands of households, and are also an important guarantee for rural revitalization. This article analyzes the current situation of rural elderly care, discovers the basic problems in the existing rural elderly care model, puts forward appropriate suggestions and opinions, and explores a new path suitable for the development of rural elderly care at the current stage.
Keywords: Rural elderly; living conditions; rural revitalization and rural elderly care measures and suggestions
1. Survey background
The seventh national census data shows , my country’s population aged 60 and above has reached 264 million, accounting for 18.7% of the total population. It is expected that during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, this number will exceed 300 million, and our country will enter the moderate aging stage from mild aging. The aging of the population has shown an upward trend in our country, and the issue of life security for the elderly has become an important issue related to the national economy. Since the reform and opening up, my country's urban and rural economies have developed rapidly, and the urban and rural social structure has also undergone tremendous changes. With the continuous development of social economy, many young and middle-aged people from rural areas have moved to cities, leaving a large number of "empty nesters" staying in the countryside. Against this background, the pressure on rural elderly care continues to increase, and the issue of rural elderly care has also become a major shortcoming in rural revitalization. Therefore, building a pension system that provides for the elderly is particularly important for my country's social and economic development and the construction of a socialist society.
The construction of a new rural elderly care system must effectively meet the needs of the elderly, change the traditional single elderly care model, make full use of all aspects of rural resources, and create a family-based elderly care system with community public services as the basis. Relying on the new elderly care model with children as the mainstay and mutual assistance as the supplement, we strive to allow rural elderly people to enjoy their old age with physical and mental satisfaction.
2. Overview of the current living conditions of the elderly in rural areas
(1) Daily care situation
The survey found that most elderly people have strong ability to take care of themselves. . In the survey, 32% of the elderly said they lived alone or with their spouse, 48% lived with their children, 15% lived in a nursing home, 3.2% lived with their grandchildren or granddaughters, and 1.8% lived with relatives/friends.
(2) Economic Sources
They said that among their children who are still alive, there are 2-3 sons. Few of the children who live in different places live in the same village. Most of them live in the same village. In the county, we see each other once a month on average. There are also a small number of children who work and live in other places, so we rarely see them. We can only see them once every six months or a year. However, there are only 2-3 relatives or friends who frequently interact with each other. For the elderly who live with their children or grandchildren, they said that they take care of their grandchildren for a long time and basically take care of them every day.
The survey results show that 56% of rural elderly people’s main source of income is social pensions, 20% said they are mainly supported by their children, 10% have their own pensions or get paid through labor, and 5.8% rely on 2.3% of the savings saved when I was young relied on government assistance.
Most of them had not held any job before the age of 60. They mainly farmed at home or worked outside the home, and some were engaged in individual or private economic activities, such as opening small shops and selling goods at nearby markets. Stall and wait.
All the elderly people interviewed said that they had participated in social pension insurance, but none of them had participated in social insurance. The main reason was that it was too expensive and they had no financial foundation. Except for the elderly whose children who died living with them received subsidies from the government such as social security, other elderly people said they did not receive any subsidies.
(3) Main content of daily life
When asked about the main content of parents’ daily life, most elderly people chose to do housework and farm work, accounting for 71.3%. In addition, more elderly people choose to exercise and take care of their families, 36.8% and 36.6% respectively. It can be seen that doing housework and farming, exercising and taking care of family members are the main contents of the daily life of the elderly.
When asked what activities they had participated in, they said they had not participated in many activities, only relatively simple activities such as maintaining the health of the village, helping neighbors, and caring for and educating the next generation. They hope that the village will organize some entertainment activities, health lectures, old and young people and other similar activities to add a touch of splendor to their monotonous lives.
(4) Usage of smartphones and smart services
With the popularity of the Internet, electronic products such as smartphones are increasingly used by the elderly.
Survey data shows that 52.0% of the elderly use smartphones. However, the elderly who use smartphones say that they mainly make simple phone calls, video chats and watch Kuaishou, accounting for 84.7% and 80.5% respectively. % and 71.3%; elderly people account for one fifth of online shopping; and for intelligent service functions such as online shopping, online medical treatment, online learning, online food ordering, online taxi hailing and ticket buying, which are relatively complex, the elderly almost do not know how to do so. use. 80% of the elderly said they need smartphone training.
(5) Mental state
Due to lack of companionship, loneliness and other reasons, most elderly people say they are troubled by small things. They often feel depressed and have trouble doing things. It's hard work and I don't have high hopes for the future. I just hope that I and my wife can spend their later years in good health. Some elderly people say that they are afraid of the future, fear of their own physical problems, fear of accidents, etc. Almost all elderly people say that they cannot sleep well and often cannot fall asleep until midnight. A very small number of elderly people say that they are very happy now, and they are basically lonely.
(6) Satisfaction
Although Shichang feels lonely, they can understand that their children are busy with work, so they say that overall they are quite satisfied with their current life. , are also relatively satisfied with their health, they can actively exercise and maintain good health, and are also relatively satisfied with their relationship with their children. They say they can get along well with each other and their children are relatively filial.
(7) Health status and functions
Think that your health is not very good, your eyesight is relatively weak, your vision is blurry, and you cannot see words clearly on books, mobile phones and other devices. Some elderly people even suffer from eye diseases such as cataracts and macular fission. Most elderly people have weak hearing. Interviews found that they cannot hear clearly at normal volume levels, and they need to talk to them at a louder volume and at a slower speaking speed. Most elderly people have basically no difficulty walking, but there are also a small number of elderly people who have some difficulty walking because of diseases such as rheumatism and arthritis.
3. Elderly care issues faced by the elderly
(1) Four major difficulties have become the main problems in the daily life of the elderly.
First, the pension is small and the financial burden is heavy. In the survey, 48.4% of the elderly said that the biggest living difficulties they currently face are small pensions and heavy financial burdens. One month's pension cannot meet daily consumption at all.
The second is that there is no one to accompany her, making daily care difficult. Due to busy work and fast pace of life, on the one hand, children do not have more free time to take care of the elderly, and on the other hand, they often ignore the psychological comfort of the elderly. 26.4% of the elderly said that their parents feel lonely and have no one to accompany them, and 23.2% said that they currently have no one to accompany them. care.
The third is poor health and difficulty in moving. In the survey, 24.0% of the elderly said that the biggest problem they currently face in life is poor health and inconvenience in activities. It can be seen that it is necessary to speed up the aging-friendly transformation of communities and families and enhance the convenience of life for the elderly.
Fourth, it is difficult to use intelligent service functions. In the survey, 23.9% of the citizens surveyed said that their parents would not use the smart service functions of smartphones independently. With the development of smart elderly care and more and more life services switching from "offline" to "online", the inability to use intelligent services or only simple operations has become a problem that the elderly have to face. problem.
(2) The functions of elderly care services around the community need to be improved
In recent years, the functions of rural elderly care services have been continuously improved. However, compared with the growing demand for elderly care, there are still many shortcomings. In the survey, 51.7% of the elderly believed that the elderly care in the village had the problem of "few services", and 46.3% believed that there was the problem of "small space, few facilities and poor environment".
4. Demand for community elderly care services
(1) Demand for elderly care facilities
During the survey, when the elderly were asked what kind of elderly care services they would like to see added around their place of residence, When it comes to facilities, health rooms, medical rehabilitation rooms, fitness activity venues and public canteens for the elderly were mentioned most frequently. Among them, health rooms and rehabilitation rooms have the highest demand, at 65.1%, followed by fitness venues and senior canteens, at 63.5% and 54.8% respectively. In addition, the demand for barber shops and other services is also relatively high, accounting for more than 20%.
(2) Demand for services
In the survey, when asked what elderly care services they most wanted to be provided around the village, 48.1% of the elderly said they needed medical rehabilitation care. Services, 45.6% expressed the need for catering services for the elderly, and the demand for cultural and sports activities and spiritual care accounted for 41.3% and 37.2% respectively. At the same time, the number of people in need of housekeeping services also accounts for more than 30%.
5. Focus on improving the quality of life of the elderly in rural areas
(1) Focus on improving the income level of the elderly in rural areas
The fundamental solution to the problem of rural elderly care is Increase their income level. Judging from survey data, the overall economic status of rural elderly is poor. They mainly obtain their only income through their own labor income and family support, with less social security income and subsidy income.
To improve the quality of life of rural elderly, we must first improve their economic income level.
1. Increase the economic income of the elderly
First, encourage rural elderly to persist in employed or non-employed agricultural labor as long as their health conditions permit, and obtain corresponding income. Allowing the elderly to engage in gainful labor can not only increase their economic income, but also enrich their daily lives and provide them with some physical exercise. Second, increase land income. You can obtain economic income by cultivating land; you can also transfer land to others and receive corresponding economic compensation to improve economic income levels from multiple angles.
2. Enhance family support capabilities
It is not difficult to find that family pension is the optimal pension model, and family pension resources are the most fundamental and indispensable pension resources. Therefore, the government should first promote the overall development of rural families and improve family care for the elderly. Specifically, family care for the elderly can be enhanced from the following aspects. Support and encourage parents and children to live together or in the same village nearby; provide more financial subsidies to families; provide housing construction and renovation services; support professional training for elderly care service personnel, etc.
3. Strengthen the government and society’s pension support
First, appropriately increase the basic pension level of rural residents and give full play to the role of pension insurance in effectively protecting the basic life of the elderly. Second, invest in aiding poor and disabled rural elderly. Increase subsidy funds for elderly people from poor families and disabled elderly people, and at the same time bring them all into the scope of social assistance, obtain more public welfare subsidies, and further protect the basic life of the elderly in rural areas with difficulties. Third, implement the rural revitalization strategy and vigorously develop the overall rural economy. Expand employment opportunities for rural elderly people and effectively increase their labor income.
(2) Focus on improving the medical security system for the elderly in rural areas
From the previous data analysis, it is not difficult to find that the biggest difficulty faced by most elderly people is physical health problems. The older the elderly, the less optimistic their health status is. There are more elderly people suffering from chronic diseases. Medical and health services are the most urgent need for rural elderly people. Therefore, efforts need to be made to make the medical security system for rural elderly more sound. We can mainly start from the following two aspects. First, improve the level of basic medical insurance for rural elderly. Incorporate common diseases into the scope of medical reimbursement to reduce the cost of medical treatment for the elderly. Second, enhance the convenience of medical treatment. Form "door-to-door medical care" service, regard rural elderly as a key group, and promote family doctor contract service.
(3) Improving community home-based elderly care services
Improving community home-based elderly care services is the policy and measure that the interviewed citizens are most concerned about in this survey, accounting for 60.8%, which reflects It shows that citizens have greater demand and higher expectations for community home care services.
First, improve community elderly care services and facilities. Improve the community elderly information database and improve community elderly care facilities and services based on the needs of community elderly people. At present, the most important thing is to increase and improve elderly care services with high demand such as medical care, meal assistance for the elderly, cultural and sports activities, and spiritual care, as well as improve community health service stations and nursing stations, elderly canteens, day care centers, and other elderly care services. facility.
The second is to speed up the aging-friendly transformation of communities. Accelerate the renovation of aging-friendly facilities in the community, add barrier-free facilities suitable for the elderly, and enhance the convenience of the elderly's lives, such as installing elevators in old communities and installing handrails in the living rooms for the elderly who live alone and the empty-nest disabled elderly.
(4) Strengthen the training of elderly care professionals
The quality of the elderly care talent team directly affects the quality of life of the elderly. In the survey, nearly 30% of the elderly residents and village cadres believed that local community elderly care services were unprofessional.
First, enrich the professional elderly care service team. Develop public welfare elderly care service positions in non-profit elderly care institutions and communities, and strive to establish a professional and stable team of elderly care service practitioners.
The second is to strengthen the training of nursing staff. Regularly hold aging policy and nursing knowledge training courses to strengthen skills training for nursing staff.
The third is to increase the basic salary level of elderly care service personnel. Strengthen social security benefits, formulate relevant preferential policies in key areas such as elderly care services and medical care integration, and promote the stability of the elderly care talent pool.
(5) Helping the elderly to integrate into the intelligent era
Helping the elderly to integrate into the intelligent era as soon as possible is not only the responsibility of the family, but also the responsibility of society. First, we must establish a training mechanism for the use of smart devices for the elderly. In addition to the corresponding obligations of family members, universities for the elderly should add smart application training courses, and communities should regularly hold training classes on the use of smart devices, using one-on-one Q&A to eliminate barriers to the use of smart devices by the elderly.
The second is to improve the smart elderly care service platform. Combined with the characteristics of the elderly group, a smart elderly care platform is designed that is easier to operate, so that the elderly can truly enjoy the convenience brought by smart elderly care.
6. Conclusion
The survey results show that: taking care of housework and exercising are the main contents of the daily life of the elderly; high financial pressure and being unaccompanied are the main problems that the elderly face in their lives. The elderly have great demand for elderly care facilities and elderly care services.
It is necessary to meet the needs of the elderly in all aspects as much as possible, change the traditional single elderly care model, make full use of all aspects of rural resources, and create a new elderly care model based on family care, community care, and children's care as the main body, so that the elderly can be physically healthy This will further improve rural elderly care issues and lay the foundation for the development of rural revitalization strategies.
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