Studying about the family's role in taking care of the elderly in Vietnam today - Through the research in elderly care homes in Ho Chi Minh city

Abstract

Population aging is the most important trend of the 21st century in the world. Vietnam has officially entered the period of population aging since 2014 with the fastest aging rate. “Population aging” is a noticeable topic in Vietnam today. And in fact, according to many researchers, the number, especially the number of in-depth researches and applicable researches are still limited. Based on the inheriting of precedence researches and the result of my fieldwork study conducted in nursing homes in Ho Chi Minh city, from a new viewpoint, the paper aims to explore the traditional role of elderly care of the family in relationship with using nursing home today. Until now, the traditional family has played the main role in elderly care in Vietnam. In the context of changing society under the impact of urbanization and industrialization today, studying about the traditional role of elderly care of family, the relationship between family and the trend of "socialization" of elderly care, the changes and predicted future trend when compared with Japan, etc. would be necessary. The research result shows that the Vietnamese still have a strong negative attitude toward elderly care homes, and the traditional role of the family of elderly care is still deeply maintained. But at the same time, some basic changes have also confirmed, such as the change in traditional filial piety, the strengthening of the role of social services such as elderly care homes, etc. It can be said that this is the outstanding characteristic of the status of elderly care in Vietnam today. And based on comparing with other countries, the study also shows that in order to find an effective elderly care model in Vietnam, it is necessary to pay much attention to the relationship with the family.