Decision-Making Mechanism of Joint Activities for the Elderly and Children in Integrated Welfare Facilities: A Discussion Based on “Motivation–Constraint” Interaction Model

Abstract

In China, joint activities for the elderly and children in integrated welfare facilities lack systematic decision procedures. By learning from the “leisure constraint” theory, the study puts forward six influencing indicators of motivation and constraint in the aspects of preliminary coordination, activity space and effect. By using semi-structured interviews and questionnaire surveys analyzed by deviation value computation, the study analyzes the evaluation value of influencing factors in the decision procedure of potential activity cases, where administrators and nurses act as two decision makers. Further, it discusses the decision-making mechanism based on the “motivation–constraint” interaction model. Firstly, it analyzes the dominant forces in the decision procedure, which are “motivation oriented”, “negotiation oriented” and “constraint oriented”. Secondly, it reveals that administrators and nurses as two decision makers tend to give positive motivation evaluations and deliberative constraints evaluations, respectively. Additionally, it analyzes the decision procedures of activities with distinct feasibility differentiation. Thirdly, it positions the levels of occurrence potential as “should occur”, “occurred but should be improved”, “potentially could occur” and “hard to occur”. Eventually, it analyzes the requirements and potential for joint activities under different service modules, which provides a theoretical foundation for the systematic planning and development of the joint activities.