Honglin Chen, Yanyan Chen, Yan Wang, Hongtu Chen, Levkoff Sue, Tianshu Pan, Yuanyuan Wang, Yanling He
{"title":"A Study on Mental Health Service Needs among Older Adults and the Policy Response in China: Experiences in Urban Shanghai","authors":"Honglin Chen, Yanyan Chen, Yan Wang, Hongtu Chen, Levkoff Sue, Tianshu Pan, Yuanyuan Wang, Yanling He","doi":"10.1007/s12126-022-09516-3","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Despite increasing awareness of mental health problems among older adults, limited mental health services are available to meet their needs. The proposed study aimed to evaluate the need for mental health services among older adults in Shanghai, China, and identify gaps in the existing service system to inform policy making. Based on 80 face-to-face interviews amongst several groups of older adults and community officers, doctors and government stakeholders, the study found that (a) the mental health needs of older adults living with family members mainly present as needs for social interaction, sense of belonging, and self-realization; (b) special groups, such as older adults living alone, mainly desire support to address loneliness, older adults with physical disabilities desire social respect, and those with mental disabilities seek social acceptance; and (c) community cadres and other stakeholders have paid little attention to demands related to mental well-being among older people. It is necessary to deliver mental health education to community stakeholders and the public, popularize mental health knowledge, and publicize professional psychological counseling and treatment services. Meanwhile, policy makers should allocate resources to train professional mental health services personnel to meet these growing mental health needs and increase financial support for mental health services for older adults.\n</p></div>","PeriodicalId":51665,"journal":{"name":"Ageing International","volume":"48 4","pages":"1063 - 1085"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0000,"publicationDate":"2023-01-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s12126-022-09516-3.pdf","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Ageing International","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12126-022-09516-3","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"GERONTOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Despite increasing awareness of mental health problems among older adults, limited mental health services are available to meet their needs. The proposed study aimed to evaluate the need for mental health services among older adults in Shanghai, China, and identify gaps in the existing service system to inform policy making. Based on 80 face-to-face interviews amongst several groups of older adults and community officers, doctors and government stakeholders, the study found that (a) the mental health needs of older adults living with family members mainly present as needs for social interaction, sense of belonging, and self-realization; (b) special groups, such as older adults living alone, mainly desire support to address loneliness, older adults with physical disabilities desire social respect, and those with mental disabilities seek social acceptance; and (c) community cadres and other stakeholders have paid little attention to demands related to mental well-being among older people. It is necessary to deliver mental health education to community stakeholders and the public, popularize mental health knowledge, and publicize professional psychological counseling and treatment services. Meanwhile, policy makers should allocate resources to train professional mental health services personnel to meet these growing mental health needs and increase financial support for mental health services for older adults.
期刊介绍：
As a quarterly peer-reviewed journal that has existed for over three decades, Ageing International serves all professionals who deal with complex ageing issues. The journal is dedicated to improving the life of ageing populations worldwide through providing an intellectual forum for communicating common concerns, exchanging analyses and discoveries in scientific research, crystallizing significant issues, and offering recommendations in ageing-related service delivery and policy making. Besides encouraging the submission of high-quality research and review papers, Ageing International seeks to bring together researchers, policy analysts, and service program administrators who are committed to reducing the ''implementation gap'' between good science and effective service, between evidence-based protocol and culturally suitable programs, and between unique innovative solutions and generalizable policies. For significant issues that are common across countries, Ageing International will organize special forums for scholars and investigators from different disciplines to present their regional perspectives as well as to provide more comprehensive analysis. The editors strongly believe that such discourse has the potential to foster a wide range of coordinated efforts that will lead to improvements in the quality of life of older persons worldwide. Abstracted and Indexed in:
ABI/INFORM, Academic OneFile, Academic Search, CSA/Proquest, Current Abstracts, EBSCO, Ergonomics Abstracts, Expanded Academic, Gale, Google Scholar, Health Reference Center Academic, OCLC, PsychINFO, PsyARTICLES, SCOPUS, Social Science Abstracts, and Summon by Serial Solutions.
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