Policy attention allocation to care services for disabled and demented elderly in China, 2013 – 2023: a content analysis of government documents

Abstract

ObjectiveTo analyze the textual content related to care services for disabled and demented elderly in documents issued by Chinese national government agencies from 2013 to 2023, and the changes in the allocation of policy attention of the documents, in order to provide a reference for the improvement of relevant policies. MethodA content analysis method was used to construct an analytical framework from two dimensions: policy instruments and empowerment perspectives. A total of 52 retrieved policy documents were coded and statistically analyzed using Nvivo software. ResultsA total of 275 content units were coded for all retrieved documents. The focus of policy attention showed a phasic variation. Environmental policy instruments dominated the policy instruments dimension with 45.82% of the coded content units, while environmental empowerment and service empowerment dominated the empowerment dimension with 51.27% and 43.27% of the coded content units, respectively. ConclusionThere is a structural imbalance in the development of policy instruments for care services for the disabled and demented elderly in China, with an uneven allocation of policy attention to the empowerment perspective, suggesting that relevant policy-making needs to be improved for the construction of a multidimensional empowerment elderly care service system.

Keywords

• disabled and demented elderly
• elderly care services
• attention allocation
• policy text
• content analysis