Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 May 31;8(5):e020225.
doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2017-020225.

Urban-rural differences in factors associated with willingness to receive eldercare among the elderly: a cross-sectional survey in China

Yanan Xing #  1 , Ruijuan Pei #  1 , Jing Qu #  1 , Juan Wang  2 , Hao Zhou  3 , Zhaoqing Wang  1 , Wenxin Yan  1 , Xinran Sun  1 , Tao Sun  1 , Li Li  1
Affiliations

Urban-rural differences in factors associated with willingness to receive eldercare among the elderly: a cross-sectional survey in China

Yanan Xing et al. BMJ Open. .

Abstract

Objective: Willingness to receive eldercare is an important factor affecting the reasonable allocation of resources and appropriate development of eldercare services. This study aimed to investigate the differences in willingness to receive eldercare and the influencing factors in urban and rural areas.

Design: Cross-sectional survey.

Setting: Research was conducted in the urban and rural areas of three cities (Harbin, Qiqihar and Jiamusi) in Heilongjiang province, China.

Participants: A total of 1003 elderly were selected through multistage sampling in Heilongjiang province, including 581 in urban areas and 422 in rural areas.

Main outcome measures: Descriptive statistics were reported for socioeconomic and demographic status, physical health, life satisfaction and social support in urban and rural areas. Mean differences were examined using t-tests, and categorical variable differences were examined using χ2 tests. The factors influencing willingness to receive eldercare in urban and rural areas were analysed using logistic regression.

Results: The results showed that 51.6% of urban elderly and 59.0% of rural elderly preferred family eldercare. Factors that influenced willingness to receive eldercare for urban elderly were age (OR 2.791, 95% CI 1.644 to 4.737), house property (OR 0.494, 95% CI 0.329 to 0.740) and objective support (OR 0.764, 95% CI 0.681 to 0.858). For rural elderly, the factors were having children (OR 0.368, 95% CI 0.146 to 0.930), house property (OR 0.371, 95% CI 0.231 to 0.596) and living arrangement (OR 3.361, 95% CI 1.436 to 7.866).

Conclusion: More attention should be paid to improving the functioning of family eldercare and promoting the development of varied eldercare services. Investments and targeted policies should be undertaken for different subgroups of urban and rural elderly.

Keywords: elderly; rural; urban; willingness to receive eldercare.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Yang K. Study on the choice of endowment willingness and influential factors of rural Residents. Zhejiang: Sci-Tech University, 2015:3 12.
    1. National Bureau of Statistics: the 2016 national economic and social development statistics bulletin. in Chinese http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjsj/zxfb/201702/t20170228_1467424.html (accessed 2 Dec 2017).
    1. Zhan HJ, Liu G, Guan X, et al. . Recent developments in institutional elder care in China: changing concepts and attitudes. J Aging Soc Policy 2006;18:85 10.1300/J031v18n02_06 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Feng MN, Zhou LZ, et al. . Analysis on the present situation and influencing factors of the family function of the elderly in urban and rural areas in Hebei province [J]. Public health 2015;31:137–40.
    1. Li Y. The study of the impact elements of urban elderly endowment-take the Kunlun Community in Changchun as an example[D]. ChangChun University of Technology 2016.

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources