Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-ttngx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-05T05:55:45.737Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The social networks of nursing-home residents in Hong Kong

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 January 2009

SHEUNG-TAK CHENG
SHEUNG-TAK CHENG*
Affiliation:
Department of Applied Social Studies, City University of Hong Kong, China.
*
Address for correspondence: Sheung-Tak Cheng, Department of Applied Social Studies, City University of Hong Kong, 83 Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong. E-mail: tak.cheng@cityu.edu.hk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The degree of social support available to older persons who are institutionalised is under-researched. This study investigated the structural and functional support exchanges with their social network members of 72 nursing home residents in Hong Kong (58 women, 14 men). They were asked to identify their network members, to evaluate the degree to which each one was important in their lives, and to rate the support received from and provided to each individual. The participants reported few network members (average 2.6) and in many cases neither a spouse nor children were included. Only one-fifth of the participants reported a social network member in the nursing home, and most of those who did nominated a member of the staff. There were also few friends in their networks. On the whole, the participants were comparatively socially isolated. The findings were explained in terms of the shame associated by the Chinese with placement in an institutional home, cultural patterns of social support, changes in children's filial attitudes, home placement policies, and the management practices that accentuate the distance between the older person and family members around the time of institutionalisation. These inculcate a feeling of abandonment, and discourage family visits as well as social interactions within the home.

Keywords

social supportnursing homeHong Kong Chinesefrail older people
Type
Research Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 29 , Issue 2 , February 2009 , pp. 163 - 178
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aartsen, M. J., van Tilburg, T., Smits, C. H. M. and Knipscheer, C. P. M. 2004. A longitudinal study of the impact of physical and cognitive decline on the personal network in old age. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 21, 2, 249–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berkman, L. F. and Syme, L. 1979. Social networks, host resistance, and mortality: a nine-year follow-up study of Alameda County residents. American Journal of Epidemiology, 109, 2, 186–204.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bitzan, J. E. and Kruzich, J. M. 1990. Interpersonal relationships of nursing-home residents. The Gerontologist, 30, 3, 385–90.Google Scholar
Boerner, K. and Reinhardt, J. P. 2003. Giving while in need: support provided by disabled older adults. Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 58B, 5, S297–304.Google Scholar
Brown, S. L., Nesse, R. M., Vinokur, A. D. and Smith, D. M. 2003. Providing social support may be more beneficial than receiving it: results from a prospective study of mortality. Psychological Science, 14, 4, 320–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carstensen, L. L. 1995. Evidence for a lifespan theory of socio-emotional selectivity. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 4, 5, 151–6.Google Scholar
Carpenter, B. D. 2002. Family, peer and staff social support in nursing home patients: contributions to psychological well-being. Journal of Applied Gerontology, 21, 3, 275–93.Google Scholar
Cheng, S.-T. 1993. The social context of Hong Kong's booming elderly home industry. American Journal of Community Psychology, 21, 4, 449–67.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cheng, S.-T. and Chan, A. C. M. 2003. Regulating quality of care in nursing homes in Hong Kong: a social-ecological analysis. Law and Policy, 25, 4, 403–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cheng, S.-T. and Chan, A. C. M. 2006. Filial piety and psychological well-being in well older Chinese. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 61B, 5, P262–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chi, I. and Lee, J.-J. 1989. A Health Survey of the Elderly in Hong Kong. Unpublished Resource Paper 14, Department of Social Work and Social Administration, University of Hong Kong.Google Scholar
Cohen, S. and Wills, T. A. 1985. Stress, social support, and the buffering hypothesis. Psychological Bulletin, 98, 2, 310–57.Google Scholar
Fiori, K. L., Smith, J. and Antonucci, T. C. 2007. Social network types among older adults: a multidimensional approach. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 62B, 6, P322–30.Google Scholar
Folstein, M. F., Folstein, S. E. and McHugh, P. R. 1975. ‘Mini-Mental State’: a practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinician. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 12, 3, 189–98.Google Scholar
Folstein, M. F., Anthony, J. C., Parhad, I., Duffy, B. and Gruenberg, E. M. 1985. The meaning of cognitive impairment in the elderly. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 33, 4, 228–35.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fratiglioni, L., Wang, H.-X., Ericsson, K., Maytan, M. and Winblad, B. 2000. Influence of social network on occurrence of dementia: a community-based longitudinal study. Lancet, 355, 9212. 1315–19.Google Scholar
Gaugler, J. E., Zarit, S. H. and Pearlin, L. I. 2003. Family involvement following institutionalization: modeling nursing home visits over time. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 57, 2, 91–117.Google Scholar
Goffman, E. 1961. Asylums: Essays on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmates. Aldine, Chicago.Google Scholar
Greene, V. L. and Monahan, D. J. 1982. The impact of visitation on patient well-being in nursing homes. The Gerontologist, 22, 4, 418–23.Google Scholar
Hong Kong Social Welfare Department. No date. Nursing Homes. Social Welfare Department, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Available online at http://www.swd.gov.hk/en/textonly/site_pubsvc/page_elderly/sub_residentia/id_nursinghom/ [Accessed 3 October 2007].Google Scholar
Hubbard, G., Tester, S. and Downs, M. G. 2003. Meaningful social interactions between older people in institutional care settings. Ageing & Society, 23, 1, 99–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kahn, R. L. and Antonucci, T. C. 1980. Convoys over the life course: attachment, roles, and social support. In Baltes, P. B. and Brim, O. (eds) Life-span Development and Behavior. Volume 3, Academic, San Diego, California, 253–86.Google Scholar
Kalis, A., van Delden, J. J. M. and Schermer, M. H. N. 2004. ‘The good life’ for demented persons living in nursing homes. International Psychogeriatrics, 16, 4, 429–39.Google Scholar
Larson, R., Mannell, R. and Zuzanek, J. 1986. Daily well-being of older adults with friends and family. Psychology and Aging, 1, 2, 117–26.Google Scholar
Lee, D. T. F. 1997. Residential care placement: perceptions among elderly Chinese people in Hong Kong. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 26, 3, 602–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lee, D. T. F., Woo, J. and Mackenzie, A. E. 2002. The cultural context of adjusting to nursing home life: Chinese elders' perspectives. The Gerontologist, 42, 5, 667–75.Google Scholar
Lee, L. Y. K., Lee, D. T. F. and Woo, J. 2005. Predictors of satisfaction among cognitively intact nursing-home residents in Hong Kong. Research in Nursing and Health, 28, 5, 376–87.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Leung, J. Y. Y., Yu, T. K. K., Cheung, Y. L., Ma, L. C., Cheung, S. P. and Wong, C. P. 2000. Private nursing-home residents in Hong Kong: how frail are they and their need for hospital services. Journal of the Hong Kong Geriatrics Society, 10, 1, 65–9.Google Scholar
Litwak, E. 1985. Helping the Elderly: The Complementary Roles of Informal Networks and Formal System. Guilford, New York.Google Scholar
Mahoney, F. I. and Barthel, D. 1965. Functional evaluation: the Barthel Index. Maryland State Medical Journal, 14, 56–61.Google Scholar
Max, W., Webber, P. and Fox, P. 1995. Alzheimer's disease: the unpaid burden of caring. Journal of Aging and Health, 7, 2, 179–99.Google Scholar
McAllister, C. L. and Silverman, M. A. 1999. Community formation and community roles among persons with Alzheimer's disease: a comparative study of experiences in a residential Alzheimer's facility and a traditional nursing home. Qualitative Health Research, 9, 1, 65–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McLean, A. 2006. From commodity to community in nursing homes: an impossibility? Ageing & Society, 26, 6, 925–37.Google Scholar
Port, C. L., Gruber-Baldini, A. L., Burton, L., Baumgarten, M., Hebel, J. R., Zimmerman, S. I. and Magaziner, J. 2001. Resident contact with family and friends following nursing home admission. The Gerontologist, 41, 5, 589–96.Google Scholar
Rook, K. S. 1987. Reciprocity of social exchange and social satisfaction among older women. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 1, 145–54.Google Scholar
Seeman, T. E., Bruce, M. L. and McAvay, G. J. 1996. Social network characteristics and onset of ADL disability: the MacArthur studies of successful aging. Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 51B, 4, S191–200.Google Scholar
Shield, R. R. 1988. Uneasy Endings: Daily Life in an American Nursing Home. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York.Google Scholar
Sherer, M. 2001. Interactions with friends in a nursing home and residents' morale. Activities, Adaptation and Aging, 26, 1, 23–40.Google Scholar
Tseng, S.-Z. and Wang, R.-H. 2001. Quality of life and related factors among elderly nursing-home residents in southern Taiwan. Public Health Nursing, 18, 5, 304–11.Google Scholar