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This seminal research investigates the adaptation experiences of elderly dependent Chinese immigrants who have come to New Zealand under the Family Reunion Category between 1994 and 1998. The study involved a group‐administered questionnaire to measure the various aspects of the adaptation experiences of 105 elderly dependent Chinese from China aged 50 years and over. The data set was subjected to ANOVA, Kruskal‐Wallis and Factor Analysis to analyse and establish relationships between variables. The results confirmed that there were five main factors that influence the living conditions of the elderly dependent Chinese immigrants in New Zealand. These were, in order of severity, communication in the English language, medical care, transportation, cost of living and interestingly relationships with other family members. The study also confirmed that age, length of time in New Zealand, and the need to stay in New Zealand permanently influenced the adaptability of the elderly Chinese immigrants in New Zealand.

Purpose – We seek to understand under which conditions care work emerges from shadow economy and becomes visible, either within families or in a professional frame, both at a political level and at the micro level of social perceptions.

Methodology – We analyze the recent history of French social policies devoted to dependent people and we use a study describing the members of 91 French families confronted, in 2004, with one of their elderly members’ dependence.

Findings – The French State subsidizing compensation for daily difficulties of dependent people leads to a surprising parallel between the rise of specific jobs and the public recognition of family care work. When looking at family structures, there is a huge difference between multiple-members families and trapped kin, erasing gender effect in this latter case. Family care work becomes more visible when there exists a professional equivalent: cleaning, doing the laundry, or washing the dependent person. Thus, male family care work when existing, such as home repairs or administrative tasks, remains invisible.

Research limitations – We analyze the case of France, with two major specificities: a universal State insurance system in a process of including the risk of dependence and a high unemployment rate. We exclude childcare from our study.

Originality of paper – Care studies have developed from two traditions: one emphasizing the ethics of care, and the other straddling between family economics and sociology of domestic work. The paper takes place within a third literature, raising the issue of care work as intimate work, dealing with the personal relationship between a caregiver and a care receiver.

To cover the main trends in health care for the elderly and the issues regarding the competitiveness between public and private organizations that are mainly small to medium‐sized enterprises.

A three‐dimensional longitudinal study: the social policy of public authorities; the ageing process of the French population; and the behavior of the elderly toward retirement homes.

Provides a better understanding of the competition between different modes of accommodation for the elderly. Underlines the crucial role played by non‐profit organizations in the French health sector, i.e. to act as a regulator and buffer between the public sector, which lacks flexibility, and the private sector, which gives a free hand to private interests.

This study is limited to France. It would benefit from being enlarged to cover larger geographical areas, e.g. Europe.

For academics, this method could be replicated in different other fields and sectors. For public decision makers, this work shows how non‐profit organizations could improve cohabitation between public and private organizations in the health‐care system. For managers, this paper contributes toward a better understanding of the accommodation market for the elderly.

This paper deals with the care of the elderly that is nowadays a world‐wide problem. However, opportunities are emerging with a new market for the care for the elderly.

Elderly population We all have a vested interest in the care of our elderly, whose needs and expectations are as important as those of younger people.

It is customary these days to denounce our society for its unconscionable neglect of the elderly, while we look back romantically to some indeterminate past when the elderly were respected and well cared for. Contrary to this popular view, old people historically have enjoyed neither respect nor security. As Simone de Beauvoir so effectively demonstrates in The Coming of Age (New York: Putnam, 1972), the elderly have been almost universally ill‐treated by societies throughout the world. Even the Hebrew patriarchs admonished their children to remember them as they grew older: “Cast me not off in time of old age; when my strength fails, forsake me not” (Psalms 71:1). Primitive agrarian cultures, whose very existence depended upon the knowledge gleaned from experience, valued their elders, but even they were often moved by the harsh conditions of subsistence living to eliminate by ritual killing those who were no longer productive members of society. There was a softening of societal attitudes toward the elderly during the period of nineteenth century industrial capitalism, which again valued experience and entrepreneurial skills. Modern technocratic society, however, discredits the idea that knowledge accumulates with age and prefers to think that it grows out‐of‐date. “The vast majority of mankind,” writes de Beauvoir, “look upon the coming of old age with sorrow and rebellion. It fills them with more aversion than death itself.” That the United States in the twentieth century is not alone in its poor treatment of the aged does not excuse or explain this neglect. Rather, the pervasiveness of prejudice against the old makes it even more imperative that we now develop programs to end age discrimination and its vicious effects.

The purpose of this study was to assess nutrient intakes in elderly living in Lebanese nursing homes (NHs).

This cross-sectional study was conducted in 36 long-term care institutions from all over Lebanon. Out of 2,094 residents, 98 (69 women and 29 men) elderly met the inclusion criteria and successfully completed the interview question. Dietary food intake was assessed using the 24-h food recall. The analysis used a Chi-square test and independent samples t-test or Mann–Whitney test, as appropriate.

A high percentage of elderly (reaching 100 per cent) had a low intake of energy, protein, linolenic acid, linoleic acid, fibers, vitamins and minerals, and the prevalence of nutrient inadequacy was significantly different between sexes for copper intake (p = 0.02). The results of this study highlight the nutrient inadequacies among the majority of elderly living in long-term care institutions and particularly in women and elderly residing in NHs located away from the capital Beirut.

This study is quite original; this is the first study performed nationwide in Lebanon covering not only the largest number of NHs in various locations but also elderly under custodial settings and with diverse backgrounds.

To describe, analyze, and compare two long-term care (LTC) systems for elders in Germany and Israel.

Secondary analyses of data on LTC beneficiaries, structure of service provision and content analyses of policy documents in a comparative perspective based on the Esping-Andersen welfare state typologies.

Descriptive background of demographic attributes in the two countries; discussion of LTC development laws which in Israel focuses on “aging in place” concept, where in-kind services are geared only to community-dwelling frail elders while in Germany it’s for community and institutionalized elders. Analyses of various service types provided their use, resources invested, and benefits incurred for frail elders and their family caregivers.

The advantages and shortcomings of the two systems were analyzed with recommendations for future developments. Such comparisons across nations can inform social policy debates in Germany and Israel as to how to prepare for population aging. The originality of such comparison can shed light on issues for LTC service development in other countries.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effect of adult children migration on the health status of elderly parents. Increased labor migration in developing countries that lack adequate social security systems and institutionalized care for the elderly is a phenomenon that is important to understand. When their adult children go away to work, it is not clear what effect there will be on “left-behind” elderly parents.

This study employs nearly nationally representative data from five provinces, 25 counties, 101 villages and 2,000 households, collected from two waves of data in 2007 and 2011. This sample comprises a subset of households which include both elderly individuals (above 60 years old) and their grown (working-aged) children in order to estimate the impact of adult child migration on the health of elderly parents in rural China.

This study finds that adult child migration has a significant positive impact on the health of elderly family members.

These findings are consistent with the explanation that migration raises family resources, which in turn may contribute to better health outcomes for elderly household members.

This is the first paper to attempt to identify the relationship between household migration and the health of elderly parents within the Chinese context.

In the present era of modernization, the social group members interact with each other with selfish and unselfish intents. However, the unselfish means and ends build a long term relationship among people. On the other hand, selfish ends bud out unethical means such as abuses, violence and fights. The situation becomes tough when the same becomes evident among the family relationship and as a consequence the elderly are being treated unfairly. Out of such cases, some are reported and the majority of them remain unreported, which eventually becomes the cause of concern for the social welfare agencies. Thus, this paper aims to examine the elder abuse (EA) tendency in metro, non-metro and religious cities.

For this study, a mixed-method approach is used to develop survey instruments, validate findings using qualitative and quantitative data sources for better generalization of results. The present study explored and confirmed the related factors using exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis for the establishment of a valid scale of EA. Further, the difference of perceptions among the elders for abuse across the metro, non-metro and religious cities was statistically checked using the ANOVA and post hoc techniques.

The present study identified the traces of EA and created a comprehensive understanding of it. The present study manifests the prevailing practices of EA in society by discussing the demerits of dependency and modernization. Moreover, the present study assesses the pervasiveness and the repercussion of dependency and the impact of modernization on EA followed by a discussion on how the victim elders may handle the situation. In the present study, a scale is developed to identify EA because of the dependency of the elderly and the modernization of society.

Some exclaiming thoughts such as the dependency of elders elevate the chances of EA on one side, while modernization of society hampers the social/family bonding leading to EA. The inconsistent development across the region has created modernization as a significant factor for EA. The level and depth of modernization across locations such as metro, non-metro and religious cities are the cause for varying degrees of EA. Based on the literature review, the present study has sensed the presence of EA in society at large by developing a scale for the aforesaid purpose.

Residential academic campuses generally support a skewed population profile that favours a younger population, mainly the student community, and thereby marginalize the needs of the older people staying within the campus. Health delivery systems are often not in accordance with the needs of staff members co-habiting with their aged parents and relatives as well as older staff members themselves. This poses a serious problem, especially in India, where filial piety is a norm and many employees cohabit with their parents. Moreover, the Government of India has reformulated its retirement policy under which the age for superannuation of teaching staff has been enhanced. This in turn, has raised the older-younger ratio in campuses in recent years. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

To address these issues, a household survey was carried out on older people staying in a residential academic campus of India followed by a focus group discussion with family caregivers of the older people.

It was found that older people were a marginalized group in campus, as health delivery system and allied facilities were not consistent with their needs. As a result, they and their family caregivers faced various challenges.

This is the first study exploring the possibility of academic campuses in India to emerge as alternate sites for supporting older care.