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岁以上人口在估计世界人口中的比例将接近17%，这一比例在2015年翻了一番，比1975年翻了两番。如此之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护理和医疗保健的基础设施。这样的重新评估将从比较不同护理选择的实证研究中受益匪浅。这个项目将通过调查老龄化社会中迅速变化的养老选择格局来产生广泛的定性数据。具体地说，它侧重于(1)非家庭照顾者，同时将他们与(2)传统家庭护理和(3)新兴护理技术并列。主要问题是：由非家庭照顾者提供的护理工作如何改变家庭、社会和国家亲属关系的界限？参与老年护理的不同各方如何理解护理劳动相对于其他选择的影响，如家庭护理和通过人工智能提供的护理？这项研究的发现不仅将对护理的社会科学理论具有重要意义，还将通过增进我们对当今老龄化世界中社会保障面临的挑战的了解，产生更广泛的政策影响。调查者将在日本进行这项研究，日本是世界上人口最老龄化的国家，预计至少到2050年仍将保持这一地位。日本是这类比较不同护理选项的研究的最合适地点，因为自从快速的人口变化破坏了家庭护理的提供以来，日本一直在尝试外来护理人员和护理技术。对于与外国照顾者有关的数据的收集，方法将包括参与者观察、访谈和人口调查。调查员将对家庭照顾者进行额外的访谈，并对护理技术进行参与者观察和档案研究，以确保方法的比较轴。数据分析将采用扎根的理论方法，找出亲属关系和养老观念在文化上的重大变化。现有的关于老龄化和护理的研究倾向于分别研究不同的护理方案，特别是家庭护理和付费护理。这项研究通过采用比较的方法，探索外国护理人员与家庭照顾者和护理技术自动化之间的关系，为老年人护理和亲属关系的人类学理论做出了贡献。对不断变化的老年护理格局的整体方法可以解决当前学术在主题和分析方面的局限性。此外，由于当今全球人口老龄化的突出趋势，日本老龄化背景下的先驱研究结果可以推断到无数其他面临类似人口挑战的国家，特别是美国。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.