Demand for Community Medical-Nursing Combined Services among the Empty-Nest Elderly in China: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

Currently, the number of empty-nest elders in China is rapidly increasing, and their overall health situation is not optimistic. The Chinese government has developed a series of policies to promote the community medical-nursing combined model to meet the health and pension care needs of elderly individuals. The demand for community medical-nursing combined services among empty-nest elders plays a decisive role in providing these services and must be fully recognized before these services are offered. However, only a few quantitative studies have focused on the demand for community medical-nursing combined services, and these studies failed to capture the complexity and dynamic nature of this demand. To address this research gap, this study innovatively conducted a descriptive and qualitative study to explore the demand for these services. Following the principle of data saturation, 14 empty-nest elders from communities in Wuhan, Hubei Province, were recruited using the purposive sampling method. Semistructured interviews were used to collect qualitative data. The inductive content analysis approach was used to analyze the data. The results revealed that Chinese empty-nesters’ demand for community medical-nursing combined services was diverse and specific and comprised three themes (basic elderly care services, medical and nursing services, and psychospiritual support services), with fifteen subthemes. This study provides insights into the unique demand and implementation strategies for community medical-nursing services among empty-nest elders in China. Recommendations to enhance the intelligent elderly care system, infrastructure construction, and elderly care talent in the future provision of services for this particular group of people are provided.