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The purpose of this study is to examine inter‐generational arrangements in Thailand for personal care provided to older members and provided by them as grandparents to young children.

Results are based on analysis of the 2007 Survey of Older Persons in Thailand. Consideration focuses on persons aged 60 and older.

The results document the primary role of the family, especially adult children and spouses, in providing personal care to older members. For those with only one or two adult children compared to those with four or more, spouses are considerably more likely and children less likely to be the main care provider. At the same time, older family members, as grandparents, make significant contributions to the care of young children, especially for those whose parents migrated. In most such situations, however, the grandchild's parents cover the main financial support.

Trends towards smaller family size and increased migration of adult children have already contributed to a steady decline in coresidence with adult children and increased proportions of older persons living alone or only with a spouse. How this will affect elder and grandchild care requires careful monitoring to guide social policy in relation to the roles of family, state, and voluntary sector.

The availability of representative data on the older population in Thailand provides an unusual opportunity to highlight the challenges posed by the changing demographic context of inter‐generational family care in a context of rapid population ageing in a developing country setting.

This study assesses the prevalence of accidental falls in Thailand's older adult population and the contingent influences surrounding this prevalence.

Data were drawn from the Cross-Sectional National Surveys of Older Persons in Thailand, pooling of four survey datasets which took place in 2007, 2011, 2014 and 2017. Stratified two-stage sampling was employed. Interviews were conducted with sample sizes of 11,370, 11,061, 13,775 and 12,457 senior citizens, aged 60 and above, in the respective survey years. Further investigation was conducted on subjects who reported to be of good health and without any disability, yet experienced accidental falls. The prevalence of accidental falls was examined, and variable aspects concerning fall risk were assessed with probability-weighted multiple logistic regression.

The average prevalence of accidental falls from the four surveys was 4.7%. Significant risk factors identified were advanced age, being female, living in a rural residence, having worked in the previous 7 days, lack of/excessive exercise, alcohol consumption, smoking and having an outdoor lavatory.

Accidental falls tend to increase among community-dwelling seniors aged 60 and above. Falls increase with age and are more common among the women in that demographic. Findings suggest the need for government and local agencies to consider tailoring some public health approaches to the prevention of accidental falls. This study also highlights the necessity of proper work environment maintenance to prevent these falls.

Successful aging represents a positive development in older adults. The emphasis on aging well has sought to understand resources such as emotional regulation that facilitates healthy and happy aging. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of two common emotional regulation strategies (i.e. cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression) on successful aging among Thai older adults.

The participants selected for this paper were 150 older adults living in Bangkok and adjacent areas. Their mean age was 69.7 (±6.7) years old. Instruments were the Successful Aging Inventory and Emotion Regulation Questionnaire. Each participant voluntarily completed an individual self -reported questionnaire.

The results revealed that the two emotional regulation strategies (cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression) have collectively explained 6 percent of the variance of successful aging. The cognitive reappraisal strategy was a sole significant predictor (β=0.20).

Promoting emotional regulation strategies in particular a cognitive reappraisal strategy among Thai older adults can facilitate their cognitive functioning, and their successful aging.

The purpose of this paper is to test the effectiveness of social dance exercise and social support program to improve quality of life (QOL) for older adults in Thailand.

A quasi-experimental pre-test and post-test research design was used. The participants were 102 older adults selected by systematic sampling technique. Participants were assigned using the matched-pair technique by age, physical fitness test by the Time up and Go test into intervention and control groups of 51 subjects each. Intervention was conducted for 12 weeks, three times weekly, to improve physical, psychosocial and spiritual domains leading to enhanced QOL as measured by the World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL–BREF–THAI) assessment parameter. Data on QOL were collected before and after a 12-week training period.

Most adults were between 70 and 79 years old (67 percent). After program completion, before and after mean QOL scores for the intervention group at 60.15 and 95.82, respectively, were statistically significant with p-value<0.05. Post-program QOL shown by the intervention group was significantly higher than the control group (p<0.05).

Application of social dance exercise and social support program is an alternative to traditional methods to improve QOL and maintain functional capacity for older adults.

This article aims to present the issues that challenge women and family to provide elder care. It also shows weaknesses of policy that strongly attaches to traditional expectation and does not adapt to actual changes by presenting an example of Thailand.

The review of secondary data.

Rapid growth of old age population, fewer number of children, changes in women's roles and women's employment, migration, family and societal changes challenge Thai traditional role of women and family as the main elder care providers. Academicians and policy makers are aware of these challenges, but Thai National Policy on Aging still puts responsibilities back to family.

A limitation is that information is based on available literature. Implication is to stimulate an ongoing research to give feedback to policy.

A top‐down approach can create the gap between policy ideology and reality. This article provides argument information to close the gap and improve policy that better corresponds with actual social changes and life condition of older people, women and family.

This article urges an understanding that family, women and older people are not homogeneous.

This article gives reasons why policy on aging needs to detach from traditional expectation, seriously prepare elder care that corresponds with social changes and provide elder care by family and non‐family.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of the Thai nursing student competency enhancement program applied through project-based learning (PjBL) in caring for the elderly in the community.

This quasi-experimental one-group pre-post-test design was used to compare mean scores on gerontological nursing competency scales comprising four dimensions including holistic health promotion, empirical evidence, empowerment and quality care and ethical and moral competencies. A total of 95 participants were randomly selected from a list of registered attendees. A five-week PjBL approach for a community nursing practicum was designed and comprised of an introduction to the project, components of research methodology, group projects and group presentations. A gerontological nursing competencies questionnaire was used with participants, and data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Two-way ANOVA and a paired t-test were used to compare pre-post mean scores of competencies.

A total of 95 students participated in the PjBL and the majority of participants were female (92.6%). The results revealed post–PjBL mean scores of gerontological nursing competencies were higher than the premean score (p value < 0.05) except the empirical evidence competencies which showed no statistical difference.

Since the results show the effectiveness of the student nursing competency enhancement program through PjBL when caring for the elderly in the community, it is important for health care instructors to apply PjBL, especially in community nursing. Improving empirical competency evidence among nursing students is still required and necessary.

The purpose of this paper is to estimate the changes of dental caries status among Thai adults and elderly under the different policy options using system dynamics modeling.

A multi-sector system dynamics model was developed to capture the dynamic interrelationship between dental caries status changes and oral health behavior – including self-care, dental care utilization and sugar consumption. Data used to populate the model was obtained from the Thai national oral health survey in 2000, 2006, 2012 and Thailand Official Statistics Registration. Three policy scenarios were experimented in the model: health promotion policy, dental personnel policy and affordable dental care service policy.

Dental caries experiences among Thai adults and elderly were projected to increase from now to 2040, as the elderly population increases. Among all policies experimented herein, the combined policies of health promotion, increased affordability and capacity of dental health service were found to produce the highest improvement in dental caries status with 3.7 percent reduction of population with high decayed, missing and filled teeth (DMFT) and 5.2 percent increase in population with very low DMFT.

This study is the first comprehensive simulation model that attempts to explore the dynamic interrelationship among dental caries experiences and behavioral factors that impact on oral health outcomes. In addition, the simulation model herein offers a framework for policy experimentation that provides policymakers with additional insights to inform health policy planning.

This study aims to investigate the association between mental health and religion among Thailand’s elderly population. The role of religion and culture remains limited despite the significant number of devout followers of religions in Thailand. Thai cultural and religious contexts have a dominant and persuasive influence on the lives of Thai older adults.

Data was collected in 2018 via face-to-face interaction using a structured questionnaire by the Thailand National Statistical Office. The sample consisted of 67,454 individuals, with 13,800 elderly Thai people aged 60 years or older selected for the study.

The results showed logistic regression with the association between religious activities and mental health in the understudied context of Buddhist elderly in Thailand. The variables were significantly associated with mental health at a 95% confidence level.

The model revealed that particular demographic and socioeconomic factors (age, education and marital status) were related to mental health for older adults. Regression analysis also revealed Buddhist religious activities (giving food to monks, mediation, monkhood, New Year praying, learning Dhamma for solving life’s problems, belief in Buddhism and practicing Buddhist principles) were significantly associated with the mental health of the older adult population in Thailand.

The purpose of this paper is to study and compare knowledge and skills in basic care for the dependent elderly of health volunteers before and after the increase in ability program participation.

Quasi experimental research includes one group pretest-posttest design. The research was conducted from January to March 2018. The samples were 30 health volunteers in Nakorn Pathom Province selected by purposive sampling. They were all female, aged 20–50 years, with minimal education level of early secondary school and were current or former health volunteers. The increase ability program consisted of lecture and skill practice by demonstration and individual replay demonstration. The program duration was 30 h with 19 h of skill practice and 2 days of site visit to the dependent elderly’ homes. The tool for collecting data was a questionnaire for the evaluation of knowledge and skills in basic care for the dependent elderly. The data were analyzed by means, standard deviation and paired t-test.

After the increase in ability program participation, the health volunteers had very good level of knowledge in basic care for the dependent elderly with statistical significance (p<0.01) and had most correct skills in basic care for the dependent elderly with a score of 9 from 11 items.

Knowledge and skills in basic care for the dependent elderly of the health volunteers increased to a very good level after program participation. Thailand should provide periodic and continuous training program to increase health volunteers’ knowledge and skills in basic elderly care to provide care for the elderly with most benefits.

The family caregivers play an important role in the good quality of life for the elderly, but most of them can easily have an emotional and psychological effect on caregiving. The purpose of this paper is to explore the correlation between conditions of caring for the elderly in the family and caregiver stress in a community setting, Chiang Mai Province, Thailand.

A cross-sectional exploratory descriptive research was conducted in Ban Klang Subdistrict, San Pa Tong District, Chiang Mai Province. Simple random sampling was used to collect data by using a structured interview via a questionnaire with 103 elderly caregivers. The χ² test was used to explain the conditions related to stress as being a caregiver.

Most of the caregivers were female and still in good health, but at the same time, underwent little stress. However, they did not receive any training beforehand for taking care of the elderly but mainly done by experience, relationship and gratitude. The conditions correlated with stress as being a caregiver were health status of caregivers, confidence of care, the relationship between caregiver and elderly person, and economic burden of care.

A necessary resource such as body of knowledge in elderly caregiving, long-term care system at the community level and social support from family and intimate persons will encourage confidence in taking care of the elderly in the family and also relieve caregivers’ stress.