Title: Ageing in a Multicultural Society: A Qualitative Study of Quality of Life Among the South Asian Older Adults in Hong Kong
Stream: Aging and Gerontology
Presentation Type: Live-Stream Presentation
Authors:
Terence Shum, Hong Kong Metropolitan University, Hong Kong
Abstract:
Because the population of Hong Kong is aging, new social and public policies must be developed to ensure sustainable healthcare and social welfare services for these older individuals. In response to the continuous growth of its elderly population, the Hong Kong government has directed resources to build an age-friendly community in the hope of improving the quality of life among older adults. While there has been growing interest in promoting “active aging” in Hong Kong, the existing policy framework is not fully suited to address the particular conditions of ethnic minority older adults. South Asians (Indian, Pakistani, and Nepalese) comprise a dominant minority population in Hong Kong, and they too face the challenge of aging among the members of their community. These elderly individuals experience a variety of obstacles to optimizing the opportunities that are crucial to their quality of life. Drawing from individual in-depth interviews with South Asian older adults in Hong Kong, this qualitative research will explore their subjective perspectives on their life conditions in four domains: physical and functional well-being, psychological well-being, social well-being, and economic well-being. It will also investigate how their family obligations, ethnic communities, and return migration aspirations, if any, may produce life satisfaction and expectations that are different from those of ethnic Chinese older adults, and whether they exercise different choices in old age. By focusing on the old age experiences among South Asian ethnic minorities, this research will have implications for active aging policy development and implementation in this multicultural, age-friendly city.
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