Gender, elder care and older persons in various living arrangements: a case study of Ayutthaya in Thailand | |
| Author | Boontarika Narknisorn |
| Call Number | AIT Diss. no.GD-13-02 |
| Subject(s) | Older people--Care--Thailand--Ayutthaya--Case studies Older women--Care--Thailand--Ayutthaya--Case studies |
| Note | A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Gender and Development Studies, School of Environment, Resources and Development |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Series Statement | Dissertation ; no. GD-13-02 |
| Abstract | Thai National Policies for Older Persons focus on traditional social norms that mainly expect family to provide elder care. The policies ignore that older persons are actually cared under various arrangements and are not always by their immediate family members. The main objective of this research is to examine gender dimensions of elder care in various living arrangements. The specific objectives are (1.) to explore how the availability and nature of family care influence living arrangements of older persons, (2.) to understand how elder care is perceived by elderly men and elderly women in various living arrangements, (3.) to investigate care needs of elderly men and elderly women from various living arrangements, (4.) to explore how elderly men and elderly women adjust to their living arrangement and (5.) to give recommendations to Thai National Policy for Older Persons. The field study purposively selected Ayutthaya as the study area. Elderly respondents came from seven living arrangements: (1.) living alone in the community, (2.) living alone in the paid home for the aged, (3.) living as couple in the community, (4.) living as couple in a free-of-charge home for the aged, (5.) living with nuclear family, (6.) living with extended family and (7.) living in the free-of-charge home for the aged. Respondents were 11 elderly men, 40 elderly women and 32 key informants. This study was conducted during April to August 2006. Qualitative research was applied to investigate elderly men’s and elderly women’s perspectives. The data was crosschecked, and content analysis was performed. The findings showed that there were more elderly women in most living arrangements. Factors affecting elderly men’s and elderly women’s living arrangement , old age life and adjustment were: gender, availability of family members and close relatives, older persons’ unique personality and needs, availability and access to other living arrangements, income and socioeconomic status of older persons and family members and older persons’ health and dependency. It was found that it was not necessary to live in the same house with family members to receive family care. Living arrangements without family care was classified into two themes: (1.) self-care which included to living alone and living with nuclear family and (2.) formal care which referred to living in the paid or free-of-charge governmental home for the aged. Both elderly men and elderly women lived without family care because of: death of family care takers, lacking spouses, being childless, not having close relatives, having problems with family members or having family members with financial difficulty. Elderly men and elderly women who did not take up roles to take care of their children were more comfortable with self-care and formal care arrangements, while those who did raise children had more difficulty to accept the current arrangement without family care. More elderly men and elderly women expressed inactive lifestyle due to comfortable life, health deterioration or no interesting activities. Elderly women living in the community were seen to be more active in earning cash income, linking their care needs and security to amount of income. Elderly widows living alone in the paid program engaged in various activities to prevent loneliness and adjust to the governmental home. Living arrangements with family care was classified into five themes: (1.) family care from children which composed of living alone in the community, living with nuclear family and living with extended family in the community, (2.) family care from spouse and formal care which consisted of living with couple in the free-of-charge governmental home for the aged, (3.) family care from spouse and children which included living with couple in the community and living with extended family, (4.) family care from children and care worker which composed of one extended family and (5.) family care from siblings or close relatives which included living with nuclear family and living with extended family in the community. For these groups of older persons, there was a strong expectation of family care. Elderly women and couple who were not living in the same house with their family needed to provide self-care and engage in active lifestyle. Elderly men and elderly women living with family had choices for their daily activities. Elderly men and elderly women were heterogeneous. They had unique personality and needs. Their life, perspectives, needs and adjustment could provide the bottom-up approach for better elder care that fulfilled their needs. The recommendations are to include gender in National Policies for Older Persons, to provide supports to families which provide elder care and to provide elder care in various living arrangements. |
| Year | 2013 |
| Corresponding Series Added Entry | Asian Institute of Technology. Dissertation ; no. GD-13-02 |
| Type | Dissertation |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Development and Sustainability (DDS) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Gender and Development Studies (GD) |
| Chairperson(s) | Kusakabe, Kyoko; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Ahmad, Mokbul;Doneys, Philippe;Osawa, Mari;Knodel, John; |
| Degree | Thesis (Ph.D.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2013 |