On the Professionalization and Collective－system Construction of the Service Group for the Aged

Liu Dawei

(School of Social Development East China Normal University，Shanghai200241)

Ⅰ.Related definitions

“Service group for the aged”refers to persons who have received professional training in eldercare and passed test for related national vocational qualification.The national qualifications of eldercare workers are divided into four levels:junior worker，intermediate worker，senior worker and technician.Professionalization means getting all eldercare workers to receive professional training，pass national examinations and take employment with certificate so as to improve the professional level of eldercare service.

“Collective-system construction”in the paper refers to the overall plan and operation for the building of service group for the aged.

Ⅱ.Research significance

Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Some Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening the Reform adopted at the third plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee proposes to“response actively to the aging of the population，quicken steps in the establishment of a social endowment service system and development of the service industry for the elderly.”The construction of service group for the aged is of great significance for the establishment of the endowment service system.

China has become an aging society featured by declining fertility rate and the aging of population since 2000.The proportion of the aged population to the workingage in China has been growing rapidly during the past years.The acceleration of the aging of the society is sure to increase the demand for eldercare service and professional eldercare workers.

With the rapid economic development in China，quite a few families can afford to eldercare service of high quality.Besides，it is hard for families with only one child to look after very old people or the aged who couldn’t take care of themselves at home.Therefore，community-or-institution-based eldercare services are the better choice.However，professional workers are badly needed for the service.There are only 50，000 certified eldercare workers in total in the country.

In 2013，the State Council issued Several Opinions on Speeding up the Development of Elderly care Services to encourage colleges and vocational schools to offer eldercare-service-related courses to cultivate professionals，strengthen vocational training for eldercare workers，attract more rural migration workers and urban residents experiencing employment difficulty to be engaged in the service and require eldercare service providers to improve workers’pay and benefits.Some cities or provinces such as Shanghai and Zhejiang Province have done the pioneering work to implement the policy.They propose to build service group for the aged and shall make policies about related courses offering，subsidies，payment and benefits and qualification accreditation to guarantee the construction of the service group.However，it is necessary to explore into the concrete measures.

Ⅲ.Literature review

So far，few papers have been written on the building of service group for the aged in China.They mainly involve analysis of current situation，introduction of foreign practices，summary of experience and suggestions，but lack empirical data.

Studies on current situation about eldercare service reveal that the service group are less educated and in short of labor sources，and management personnel and professional workers are badly need for community service for home care of the aged.Researches on foreign practices examine the training mode of eldercare nurses in Japan.The civil affairs authority of Zhejiang Province introduces measures taken in the construction of the service group in the province.In addition，some suggestions are proposed in other papers:the construction should focus on training high-skilled personnel，the quality of training，the training of eldercare workers and giving rein to the advantages of the services;it is necessary to check what on-the-job eldercare workers really need in training and define the content and form of training in order to improve their abilities.

Ⅳ.Analysis of the competency of the professional service group for the aged

The growing need for community-or-institution-based eldercare service sets higher requirement for the workers’competence.“Competence”，first stated by A-merican psychologist McClelland，generally consists of knowledge，skills，personality，physiological condition，values and sense of achievement.At present，the study on the competence of professional eldercare workers is incomplete and superficial in China.More researches should be conducted to probe into the fundamental causes for high labor turnover of the trade and other problems in order to strengthen the construction of the service group.

According to Leigh Branham’s study on the reason why excellent employees leave an organization，the most importance cause is that they are not paid according to their performance，for the pay reflects the employer’s recognition of employees’work.For eldercare workers，if they don’t get the reasonable pay，it means that their work is not accepted，so they couldn’t get the professional identity.

Therefore，low market recognition is the primary cause for the shortage of professional eldercare workers，low quality of the current service group and high turnover.Besides，workers doing some“disgusting”work such as taking care of the incontinent should get higher allowance for compensation.Increasing the pay and benefits of eldercare workers is the key issue to address above-mentioned problems and attract more people to be engaged in the trade.In this way，it is possible to construct and improve the competence model of professional eldercare workers.

Ⅴ.Challenges to the construction of professional service group for the aged

The eldercare model proposed during the Eleventh Five-Year Plan period—90 percent of the old people are taken care by the family，7 percent receive community services and 3 percent go to nursing homes—should be adjusted according to the real situation.The upsurge of studying and working abroad，the increase of family in-come and more investment in eldercare industry raise great demand for communityor-institution-based eldercare service and professional workers.The traditional pattern of eldercare professionals training cannot meet the growing market demand but hinder the sound development of the industry.

With the social progress and the adjustment of eldercare model，the industry shall go through the following changes.

First，eldercare service providers shall be divided into different levels，which will bring fundamental changes to the ability demand for the professionals.With the increasing of income，some families may choose high-end service provided by developers，clubs or resorts which is popular in America now.Personnel engaged in the high-end service should know not only medical and nursing knowledge but also mental consolation.

Second，the growing awareness of right-protection demands eldercare service providers to pay more attention to disputes between the customs and the providers，make efforts to avoid the disputes and define responsibilities，which requires the professionalization of the service group.

Third，the upsurge of eldercare service providers requires more management professional as well as eldercare workers.They shall be engaged in planning，marketing，service developing，purchasing，training，human resources management，law issues and network managing.The industry combined with medical care and funeral service to form a huge industry chain and inspire the emerging of elder-oriented trades such as elder recreation，tourist，publishing，catering industries.

Fourth，the professionalization of eldercare service requires the formulation of related national standards and laws.The introduction of national or international standards and the regular supervision on eldercare service providers are sure to propose higher demand for the professional service group.

Ⅵ.Countermeasure and reflection

1.Professional group construction

(1)The establishment of professional eldercare organization

Eldercare is a huge project and industry.It is necessary to establish a professional organization to take charge of affairs related to eldercare.The organization shall integrate all resources to promote，manage and supervise eldercare work.

(2)The systematic management of professionals

There is a need to establish the above-mentioned professional organization to be responsible for the planning，recruitment，training and assessment of eldercare workers so as to promote the smooth construction of the professional service group.The government also needs to offer more subsidies to non-profit eldercare service providers to strengthen the construction of the professional group.

(3)The formulation of standards

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security has set the national occupational qualification standards of eldercare workers.However，higher standards should be set for eldercare nurses to encourage the workers to be more professional ones.The service providers should be required to recruitment certain amount of certified professionals.

(4)Teaching materials

The teaching materials should cover mental consolation for the old and skills to communicate with the old as well as nursing knowledge.

(5)Professional training

At present，courses on eldercare service are mainly offered in vocational schools in China.It is recommended to offer those courses for undergraduate and postgraduate students to attract more experts into this field.The training mode of eldercare nurses in Japan might be introduced.

2.Collective-system construction

(1)The dominant role of the government

There is no doubt that the government should play the dominant role to provide eldercare service.It should offer financial support for the construction of professional service group for the old.

(2)The construction of professional group

The construction of professional group needs foresight and a grand plan.Maybe a seven-year program could be offered to students studying eldercare service:three years on nursing，two years on psychology and theories on medical treatment and another two years on high-level nursing and medical treatment.

Maybe the government can sponsor some secondary technical schools specialized in eldercare to offer free education to students who can choose to go to work or further their study after graduation.

Ⅶ.Conclusion

Human beings are destined to age.We have the common wish to live a better life in our later years and not to bring more trouble to our children.Maybe professional eldercare workers can help us achieve it.

Notes:

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