Dimensions of Care Giving and Eldercare Technology in an Aging Society

目前全球老龄化的速度和规模是人类历史上前所未有的。到2050年，65岁或65岁以上人口在世界人口估计数中的比例将接近17%，比2015年增加一倍，比1975年增加两倍。如此多的人活得如此之久，对人类来说是一个全新的现象。因此，我们需要重新评估老年人护理和医疗保健的基础设施。这种重新评估将极大地受益于比较不同替代方案的实证研究。该项目将通过调查老龄化社会中老年人护理选择的快速变化情况，产生广泛的定性数据。具体而言，它侧重于（1）非家庭照顾者，同时将其与（2）传统家庭护理和（3）新兴护理技术并列。主要问题是：非家庭照顾者提供的照顾工作如何改变家庭、社会和国家亲属关系的界限？参与老年人护理的各方如何理解护理劳动的后果，以及其他选择，如家庭护理和通过人工智能提供的护理？研究结果不仅对社会科学的护理理论具有重要意义，而且还将进一步加深对老龄化社会的社会保障所面临的挑战的认识，从而产生更广泛的政策意义。研究者将在日本进行研究，日本是世界上人口最老的国家，预计这一地位至少将保持到2050年。日本是比较不同护理选择的这类研究的最合适地点，因为自从人口结构的快速变化破坏了家庭护理的提供以来，日本一直在对移民护理人员和护理技术进行试验。对于收集有关外国照顾者的数据，方法将包括参与者观察，访谈和人口统计调查。研究者将对家庭照顾者进行额外的访谈，并进行有关护理技术的参与者观察和档案研究，以确保方法学的比较轴。数据分析将采用扎根理论的方法，找出文化上的显着变化，对亲属关系和老年人照顾的看法。现有关于老龄化和护理的工作倾向于分别研究不同的护理方案，特别是家庭护理和有偿护理。本研究采用比较的方法，探讨外国护理工作者的票价与家庭照顾者和技术自动化的照顾，有助于老年人护理和亲属关系的人类学理论。对不断变化的老年人护理景观的整体方法可以解决当前奖学金的主题和分析局限性。此外，在全球人口老龄化趋势日益突出的今天，以美国为代表的日本的老龄化背景研究成果，可以推广到面临同样人口问题的无数国家。该奖项体现了NSF的法定使命，通过基金会的学术价值和更广泛的影响评价标准，被认为是值得支持的。

The current speed and scale of global aging is unprecedented in human history. By 2050, the proportion of those aged 65 or older within the estimated world population will be nearly 17%, doubling the ratio in 2015 and tripling the percentage back in 1975. Having so many live so long is a fundamentally new phenomenon to humankind. Consequently, we need to reevaluate the infrastructures of eldercare and healthcare. Such a reevaluation would benefit immensely from empirical studies that compare different caregiving options. This project will yield wide-ranging qualitative data by investigating the rapidly shifting landscape of eldercare choices in aging society. Specifically, it focuses on (1) non-familial caregivers while juxtaposing them with (2) the traditional familial care and (3) the emerging care technology. The main questions are: How can the care work provided by non-familial caregivers alter the boundaries of familial, sociological, and national kinship? How do different parties involved in eldercare understand the ramifications of care labor, vis-a-vis other options such as familial care and care provided through artificial intelligence? Not only will the findings of this research be important for the social scientific theories of care, they will also have broader policy implications by advancing our knowledge about the challenges facing social security in the aging world today.The investigator will conduct the research in Japan, the country with the oldest population in the world that is projected to retain this position through at least 2050. Japan is the most appropriate site for this type of study that compares different care options because it has been experimenting with migrant caregivers and care technology ever since the rapid demographic changes destabilized the provision of familial care. For the collection of data pertaining to foreign caregivers, the methods will consist of participant observation, interviews, and demographic surveys. The investigator will conduct additional interviews with family caretakers and carry out participant observation and archival research about care technology to ensure the comparative axis of the methodology. Data analysis will employ the grounded theory approach to find out the culturally significant changes in the views about kinship and eldercare. The existing works on aging and care tend to study different care options separately, in particular familial care and paid care. This study contributes to the anthropological theories of eldercare and kinship by adopting a comparative approach that probes how foreign care workers fare in relation to family caregivers and technological automation of care. The holistic approach to the shifting landscape of eldercare can address the topical and analytical limitations of the current scholarship. Moreover, due to the prominent trend of global population aging today, the findings from the pioneering aging of context of Japan can be extrapolated to countless other countries that face similar demographic challenges, importantly the United States.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.