Researchers grapple with challenges of aging population

George Jackson, 85, swings on monkey bars during a parkour class for elderly people in a park in South London in 2014. [Photo/AP]

Researchers from universities in Britain, France and China are studying their national cultures and comparing them to see if lessons can be learned about the best ways to cope with an aging population and care for old people in their homes.

Professor YangZan, the principal Chinese investigator in the collaborative project between the University of Central Lancashire, Tsinghua University and Universite Paris Dauphine, hopes they will find cost-effective ways to allow seniors to stay in familiar surroundings as they age, something that should benefit their mental health.

"It is a research project aimed at optimizing care delivery models to support and promote aging-in-place," said Yang, who teaches at Beijing's Tsinghua University.

"The project is focused on meeting older people's needs, in terms of health and quality of life, by exploring the relationships between living arrangements, the living environment of older people, and the design of care delivery from technological, financial, political and social considerations."

The project is called Optimizing Care Delivery Models to Support Aging-in-Place: Toward Autonomy, Affordability and Financial Sustainability, which is abbreviated to Odessa.

The Odessa project began in March 2015 and will continue until March 2018. Five researchers in China are taking part, along with three in England and four in France. In addition, 10 students studying for their PhDs and master's degrees are supporting the work.

It is being funded by the national natural science foundations of China, the UK and France.

The challenge of how best to offer care and support to elderly people has been a major issue for decades in Europe, where the population has been steadily aging and where the number of working-age people supporting retired older people has been getting slowly smaller. The transformation has happened much more quickly and recently in China.

By 2050, more than one-fourth of China's population will be older than 65,meaning younger generations will face an unprecedented burden of care. This is because Chinese women have been having fewer children for a range of reasons, and because older people are living for longer.

By 2050, it is likely that there will be 45 seniors for every 100 people of working age. Today, a group of 100 working people supports 15 seniors.

"Due to cultural and economic differences, older people in China, the UK and France might see care delivery from different perspectives and may have various preferences," said Yang. "With scenario building and in-depth comparative analyses, this project aims to build a common framework that will enable a thorough study of care delivery mechanisms and options available to older people."