Abstract
In the context of an aging population, mutual-aid care services for the older adults represent a significant systemic initiative aimed at addressing the care needs of older adults. The active participation of the older adults is fundamental to the advancement of mutual-aid care services, and organizational mobilization is a key strategy to encourage their participation. Drawing on survey data from 796 older adults across Jiangsu, Hebei, and Shaanxi provinces in China from 2020, this study examined the current state of rural older adults participation in mutual-aid care services and investigated the impact of organizational mobilization on it. The findings indicate that the older adults’ overall willingness to participate in mutual-aid care services is relatively weak, and that the development of organizational mobilization is still in its infancy. Policy advocacy and material incentives play a significant role in motivating the older adults to provide mutual-aid services. In light of these conclusions, the study proposes policy recommendations to enhance publicity for mutual-aid services among the older adults, refine the organizational framework, and implement government policy support.
Plain language summary
Under the background of aging population, mutual-aid care services for the older adults is an important system exploration to meet the needs of elderly care services. The active participation of the older adults is the basis for the development of mutual-aid care services, and organizational mobilization is an important measure to promote the participation of the older adults. Based on the survey data of 796 older adults in Jiangsu, Hebei and Shaanxi provinces of China in 2020, this study analyzed the current situation of rural older adults’ participation in mutual-aid care service, and explored the influence of organizational mobilization on it. The study found that the overall willingness of the older adults to participate in the mutual-aid care service is not strong, and the development of the organizational mobilization of is also in the initial stage. Policy publicity and material incentives have a significant role in promoting the elderly to provide mutual-aid services.
Keywords
Introduction
Population aging has emerged as a significant trend in the progression of human society in the 21st century, and addressing the needs of older adults care services stands as both a pivotal focus and a challenging aspect of managing this demographic shift. Globally, nations are vigorously grappling with population aging and striving to ensure and enhance the quality of life for older adults (Thorslund & Parker, 1995). China is experiencing a profound aging process and boasts the largest population of older adults globally. By 2022, the number of individuals aged 60 and above in China is 280.04 million, constituting 19.8% of the total population. As stated in the “China Development Report 2020: Trends and Policies for China’s Aging Population,” the aging demographic in China is projected to culminate in 2050, with 27.9% of the population being over the age of 65 (China Development Research Foundation, 2020). In the current context, addressing population aging has become a key strategy for promoting national development. Recognizing this early on, the country took decisive action in 2000 to robustly expand older adults care services, aiming to cater to the diverse and evolving needs of our aging population (Central Committee of the CCP, State Council, 2021). After over two decades of development, China’s older adults care service system has attained outstanding achievements. This progress primarily encompasses the establishment of a multi-stakeholder older adults care service supply system, the rapid expansion of diverse older adults care facilities, and the assurance of meeting the needs of older adults facing special challenges. The government’s great attention and policy support for the aging population is the key driving force for the development of China’s older adults care services.
However, the development of older adults care services in rural China continues to encounter significant challenges. Firstly, the advancement of urbanization, the shrinking of family structures, and population mobility have made it increasingly difficult to maintain the traditional model of older adults care that relies heavily on support from children (C. He & Ye, 2014). Secondly, the current focus of community home care service development is primarily concentrated in urban areas, while government investment in rural care services remains inadequate. Thirdly, owing to their limited financial means and deeply ingrained traditional beliefs, older adults are often reluctant to avail themselves of the care services offered by older adults care institutions (Z. W. Liu et al., 2019). In this context, local governments have actively sought innovative approaches to providing older adults care services in order to address the challenges. Notably, the mutual-aid care services for older adults that emerged in Feixian County, Hebei Province in 2008 garnered significant attention(Net, 2016). Its core characteristics are “government support, village-based operation, mutual aid, and active participation by older adults.” The government funds the construction of service centers, known as Happiness Homes, while village committees or older adults associations are responsible for their operation and management. This approach has garnered significant recognition from the central government and has subsequently been rapidly promoted. Mutual-aid care services, encompassing basic living care and cultural and recreational activities, are provided by the older adults themselves. This model has been highly regarded by the central government and has seen swift promotion. Notably, “The Strategic Plan for Rural Revitalization 2018-2022”“The Medium- and Long-Term Plan for Responding Proactively to Population Aging” and the “14th Five-Year Development Plan” all explicitly advocate for the development of mutual-aid care services for older adults in rural regions.
In fact, mutual-aid services for the older adults have been widely developed in the world. The United States was the first to develop the mutual-aid services of Time Bank to improve the life quality through mutual-aid among the older adults (Seyfang, 2004). The Time Bank is a reciprocal service exchange system that operates on the principle of time as currency. The researchers also paid full attention to the exploration of China’s time banking model in China, and studied the feasibility, operation mechanism, and its application in long-term care services (Chen et al., 2022; Chen & Wang, 2023; Zhao & Zhou, 2023). Meanwhile, a new alternative living arrangement has emerged in the U.S, in which older adults proactively choose how, where, and with whom they want to live, in a close-knit community where neighbors look out for each other. Mutual-aid services for the older adults has become an important system innovation to actively deal with the population aging and improve the life quality of the older adults.
In China, mutual aid and charity are closely related, which plays an important role in individuals’ resistance to social risks (Tsu, 2013). With the exploration and development of mutual-aid services for the older adults, scholars have fully studied the social basis and institutional functions of it, which fully showed the theoretical feasibility. It is found that the traditional social trust and relationship network in Chinese rural society provide a good social foundation for the development of mutual-aid care for the older adults. The larger the social network of the older adults, the higher the level of trust in others and the community, and the stronger their enthusiasm to participate in mutual-aid care service (X. He, 2020) . Studies indicate that mutual-aid care services effectively complement formal care systems, filling gaps in older adults care provision (Xiao et al., 2023). At the same time, the study found that mutual-aid among the older adults can reduce the incidence of mental illness sufficiently (Crotty et al., 2015). Older adults who participated in mutual-aid care service reported higher levels of self-reported health (Xu et al., 2024). But there is a lack of investigation and analysis on the reality of the older adults’ participation. Limited studies have recognized the importance of the active participation of the older adults (N. Liu, 2020). However, it is still unclear whether the organizational mobilization can promote the participation of rural older adults in mutual-aid care services. Mutual-aid services for the older adults stimulates the tradition of mutual aid among the older adults groups through the system construction, and satisfies the older adults’ needs for care services by the organized development of mutual aid behavior. How to mobilize the enthusiasm of the older adults to participate in mutual-aid services for the older adults is the basis and key of the system development. Therefore, based on the social survey on the development of mutual-aid services for the older adults in rural China, this study analyzes the present situation of the older adults’ participation, explores the influence of organizational mobilization on the participation behavior of the older adults, and then puts forward policy suggestions to promote the development of mutual-aid service for the older adults.
Theoretical Analysis
Mutual-Aid Care Services for the Older Adults: The Co-production of Care Services for the Older Adults in Rural China
Aging is a pivotal phase in an individual’s life journey. In traditional Chinese society, the responsibility for supporting older adults primarily falls on individuals and families. However, with the progression of modern society, supporting the older adults has increasingly become an integral component of the national welfare system. Nonetheless, practical developments indicate that relying solely on government and market provisions for older adults care services is inadequate in rural China. Mutual-aid services for the older adults have emerged as a viable solution to address the challenges in producing these care services. Mutual-aid care services for the older adults involve promoting cooperative production of care services, under the support and organizational mobilization of the government, as a collective endeavor among the older adults. Through mutual assistance and cooperation, the older adults meet their own care service needs. This approach emphasizes the individual’s subjective status, highlighting the dual role of the older adults as both consumers and producers of care services. It enables them to experience aging actively through participation. Different from other modes of older adults care service, the key of mutual-aid care service is to play the subjective role of the older adults. In the process of the development of mutual-aid care service, the government supports the construction of happiness home that is the care service center for the older adults and provides guidance and support in terms of organizational construction and capital investment. The older adults is responsible for the daily operation and management of happiness homes, and the care services are supplied by the older adults self through mutual aid among individuals. The cooperation among the older adults plays an important role in the production of care services. Multivariate welfarism and cooperative production theory provide theoretical guidance for understanding and promoting the development of mutual-aid services for the older adults.
According to the viewpoint of multivariate welfare theory, the state, the market, the society, and the family can all become the main production body of the care services for the older adults (Collins, 1988). The multivariate welfare theory comes into being under the background of criticizing, reflecting on and exploring the new welfare production mode of “welfare state.” The welfare jointly provided by the state, the market and the family constituted the sum of social welfare (Ascoli, 2002). The modernization and enhancement of care service systems for older adults embody the essence of public products and align with policy development objectives. The realm of older adults care services is transitioning from a family-centrism model to a societal one, where collaborative efforts among multiple stakeholders have emerged as a pivotal force in elevating service quality. This shift marks a departure from traditional care arrangements provided by family members, children, or market-driven community services. In the evolution of mutual-aid care services, older adults themselves have become active contributors to their own welfare, adopting dual roles as both producers and users of older adults care services. This transformation has ushered in a novel mode of multi-stakeholder engagement in the production of older adults care services. Co-production places citizens at the forefront, assigning new roles to both governments and individuals. Governments are no longer solely tasked with responding to citizen needs and delivering public services; they must also act as facilitators, guiding citizens to actively participate in the production of these services. Consequently, the role of citizens has evolved beyond mere demand articulation, service consumption, and evaluation—they are now integral service producers themselves (Frieling et al., 2012; Pohl et al., 2010). In contrast to multivariate welfarism, co-production places greater emphasis on the active role of citizens, who are not merely passive recipients of public services but also active contributors to their production. By involving citizens in all aspects of service creation, co-production enhances the overall quality of public service development.
Organizational Mobilization: A Key Step to Promote the Participation of the Older Adults in Mutual-Aid Care Service
The practice of public management has proved that cooperative production can indeed improve the supply efficiency of public services and citizen satisfaction in some areas (Brudney, 1984). The preceding analysis demonstrates that mutual-aid services for older adults represent an innovative exploration of co-production. Nonetheless, the challenge of motivating rural older adults and elevating individual mutual aid efforts to an organized and institutionalized level of care service production remains in its nascent stages. Once mutual-aid services are recognized as a systemic innovation within national policy frameworks, they acquire the characteristics of a public service. Consequently, the government must assume a crucial guiding role in their organizational development. In this context, it becomes imperative to implement targeted mobilization efforts.
The key to fostering co-production in public service lies in designing systems that effectively promote public participation (Lam, 1996). An individual’s decision to participate in an action is invariably influenced by personal rationality, specifically whether the act of participation will yield individual benefits (Yamaguchi, 2000). So it is an important way to achieve common interests, gather common goals and avoid the adverse consequences caused by individual self-interest through organization construction and system incentive. The development of mutual-aid service for the older adults can’t be separated from the active participation of the older adults, but the mutual aid among the older adults in traditional society is individualized and decentralized, and the motivation of mutual aid may come from individual needs and social relations between individuals, which does not have stable institutional functions. It is the basic requirement for the development to unite individual actions through the organizational mobilization by the government and make them play a stable role.
According to the policy documents issued by Chinese local governments to promote the development of mutual-aid service for the older adults, it mainly includes three aspects: First, carrying out policy publicity to strengthen the older adults’ understanding and recognition of mutual-aid services for the aged; Second, setting up the older adults association and other organizations to take charge of the management and activities of mutual-aid for the older adults; Third, providing economic subsidies to the older adults who participate in the production of mutual-aid services. Based on the social survey data on the development of mutual-aid service for the older adults in rural areas in Shaanxi, Hebei and Jiangsu provinces China, this study investigates whether organizational mobilization can effectively promote the older adults to participate in mutual-aid services.
Materials and Methods
Data Collection and Sampling
Supported by the national social science foundation project in China, the research team carried out a social survey on the development of mutual-aid services for the older adults and the living conditions of the older adults with a sampling method which is combined stratified sampling with random sampling in 2020. First of all, due to the vast area of China and the great differences in economic and social development among different regions, we selected Jiangsu, Hebei and Shaanxi provinces from the eastern, central and western regions as the survey provinces. In recent years, all three provinces have implemented policies to develop mutual-aid service for the older adults in rural areas, which guaranteed the validity of the survey. Then, we recruited students as surveyors, which come from Shan Xi, He Bei and Jiang Su province. 20 researchers were recruited from each province and each surveyor planed to complete 15 questionnaires. The surveyors used a convenient sampling method to conduct a questionnaire survey among the older adults in their village during the winter holiday. The process of recruiting students is random, which can ensure the randomness of sampling in each province. The respondents taking part in this survey were the older adults aged 60 and above in rural areas.
In order to ensure the survey quality, we trained the surveyors before the survey and explained the possible difficulties. After the survey, the research team reviewed the valid questionnaires. A total of 796 samples were collected from 58 villages, Among them, 327 samples came from 19 rural villages in Jiangsu province, 206 from 18 rural villages in Hebei province and 267 from 21 rural villages in Shaanxi Province, and the questionnaire recovery rate was 88.44%. The sample size in this study meets the requirements of the number of variables for sample size. There are 404 males and 392 females in the samples. The average age of the older adults was 70 years old.
Our study design was carefully crafted to minimize the risk of harm to the study participants. First and foremost, we adhered to the ethical principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki and obtained approval from our institutional review board (IRB) prior to commencing the study. Second, participation in the study was entirely voluntary, and participants were informed that they could withdraw from the study at any time without facing any consequences. Participants who were willing to participate in this study signed a written informed consent form. Last, the researchers will keep all participants’ information confidential and will not use it for any purposes other than academic research. For the older adults participants in this study, their involvement contributes to the development of the rural older adults care service system, thereby directly or indirectly enhancing their well-being.
Measurements
Dependent Variables: The Older Adults’ Participation in Mutual-Aid Care Service
Mutual-aid service for the older adults is a complex concept, which has not yet reached a consensus among the researchers. However, from the perspective of co-production, the older adults’ participation in mutual-aid service includes two aspects: one is to participate in the service provision, and the other is to utilize the services. Obviously, Whether the older adults utilize older adults care services is mainly driven by the personal demand (Yu et al., 2020). The utilization of mutual-aid aged care is one way to meet individual demand. However, the older adults’ participation of mutual-aid care service provision needs appropriate institutional guidance and incentives. So the participation of the older adults in the production of mutual-aid services is more important. Therefore, this study mainly studies the influence of organizational mobilization on the participation of the older adults in the production of mutual-aid service. Since mutual-aid service is still in its infancy and exploration stage, the participation behavior of the older adults is not common enough. Drawing on the existing research on the participation of rural older adults in mutual-aid care service (W. Zheng, 2023), in the empirical study, the willingness of the older adults to provide mutual aid services was taken as the dependent variable.
Based on the classification of older adults care service content found in existing research (Z. Zheng et al., 2019), this study categorizes the production for older adults into four distinct aspects. The first is to participate in the management of the mutual-aid service center for the older adults; the second is to organize activities; the third is to do some daily work such as cooking and cleaning in the care service center for the older adults; the fourth is to help the older adults in need. The willingness of the older adults to participate in mutual-aid service was measured by asking them if they would like to participate in these tasks (1 = yes; 0 = no).
Independent Variables: Organizational Mobilization
Organizational mobilization is an important method to promote the formation of beneficial collective action in social governance. The goal is to promote the formation of consensus and behavior of social members to participate in collective action, and finally achieve the organizational development of collective action. Based on the summary of organizational mobilization in the existing research of public management and social governance (Wu & Pan, 2024), and the investigation of the practice case of mutual-aid care services, there are three main ways for the government to mobilize the older adults to participate in mutual-aid care services: policy publicity, organize construction, and material incentive. In this study, the older adults were asked “Has the government publicized the policy of mutual-aid service for the older adults?” To measure policy publicity, and the answers are divided into yes and no (yes = 1, no = 0). “Do you Join the older adults association?” and the answers were assigned to yes and no with a score of 1 and 0, respectively. Material incentive was measured by asking “whether older adults people who provide services are provided with material subsidies.” The answer is yes or no with a score of 1 and 0 respectively.
Control Variables
In order to eliminate the influence of individual characteristics of the older adults on their participation in mutual-aid service, the age, gender, education level, and health status of the older adults were taken as control variables in this study. education level is divided into primary school and below, junior high school, senior high school, and above. The health status of the older adults was measured by their self-reported health, which was divided into five grades: very poor, poor, medium, good, and very good, with a score of 1 to 5 respectively.
The Statistics Analysis
At first, this study used descriptive statistical method to analyze the willingness of the older adults to participate in mutual-aid service and organizational mobilization. Then, regression analysis is used to study the influence of organizational mobilization on the participation of the older adults in mutual-aid service. Since the dependent variable is a binary indicator binary logistic regression is used in this study.
Results
Descriptive Analysis of Variables
Table 1 shows the older adults’ willingness to participate in mutual-aid service for the older adults, the organizational mobilization and the older adults’ individual characteristics. Among the 796 older adults, 203 (25.47%) are willing to participate in management in the development 1of mutual-aid service in the care service center for the older adults. There are 208 older adults people who are willing to organize activities, accounting for 26.10% of all the samples. 31.62% of the older adults are willing to provide daily services, such as cooking and cleaning in the mutual-aid service center. The proportion of those willing to help others is relatively high, accounting for 35.88% of all respondents. In general, among the four aspect of production activities of mutual-aid service for the older adults, the older adults has the strongest willingness to help other older adults people, while the least willingness to participate in management of the mutual-aid service center. From the perspective of organizational mobilization, 34.88% of the respondents said that the government had carried out relevant policy publicity, 17.06% of the older adults said that the government would provide some material incentives to the older adults who provide services, and only 10.29% of the older adults joined the association for the older adults.
Descriptive Analysis of Variables.
According to the individual characteristics of the older adults, 50.82% of the respondents are male and 49.18% are female. The average age of the older adults is 70.42 years old. The education level of the older adults as a whole is not high. The older adults who attended primary school or no school account for 62.23%, while those who have received high school education or above account for only 11.54%. The health status of the older adults is generally good, 36.89% of the older adults think they are in good health status, and 15.93% of the older adults reported they are in good health status.
Regression Analysis Results
Table 2 shows the regression analysis results of the effect of organizational mobilization on the older adults’ participation in mutual-care for the older adults. The dependent variable in model 1 is the willingness of the older adults to participate in the management of mutual-aid service center. The results show that organizational mobilization has no significant promoting effect on the older adults to participate in the management of mutual assistance for the older adults. Among the control variables, the willingness may increase as the older adults age. Model 2 shows the influence of organizational mobilization on the willingness of the older adults to organize activities. The results indicated that policy publicity, joining the association for the older adults and material incentives could not significantly improve the willingness of the older adults to organize activities, while age, education level, and health status among the control variables had a significant impact on the willingness of the older adults to participate in organizational activities. The results of model 3 show that policy publicity can significantly promote the willing of the older adults to participate in providing the daily service, and government policy publicity can increase the willingness of the older adults to participate in daily service provision by 0.63 times. The older the older adults is, the more willing they are to participate in service provision. And the older adults with higher education level is more likely to participate in daily service provision. The results of model 4 show that material incentives can significantly improve the older adults’ willingness to help others. Specifically, material incentives can increase their willingness to help other older adults people by 0.656 times. There is a significant relationship between age, education level and the willingness to participate in helping others. The older the older adults is, the stronger willingness to help other older adults people may be. The older adults with higher education level is more willing to participate in activities to help others.
The Effect of Organizational Mobilization on the Older Adults’ Willingness to Participate in the Mutual-Aid Service for the Older Adults.
Note. The table contains the odds ratio (standard error) from logit models.
p < .1. *p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.
Discussion and Conclusions
Developing mutual-aid service for the older adults is an important institutional innovation to solve the problem of care services for the older adults in rural China. Based on the survey data of 796 older adults people in Shaanxi, Hebei and Jiangsu Provinces, this study analyzed the current situation of the older adults’ willingness to participate in mutual assistance for the aged and the situation of the government’s organizational mobilization, and explored the influence of organizational mobilization on the participation willingness of the older adults.
The older adults’ participation in mutual-aid service for the aged is divided into four aspects: participating in management, organizing activities, providing daily life services and helping other older adults people. The study found that the participation willingness of the older adults, as a whole, is not strong, and the willingness to help other older adults people is the strongest, but the older adults who is willing to help others just accounts for 35% of all the respondents. The other important finding is the participation willingness of the older adults in different aspect of mutual-aid service is different, the willingness to participate in management and organization activities is relatively low, and the willingness to provide daily services and help other older adults people is relatively strong. This is related to the characteristics of different mutual-aid service production. The mutual help among the older adults is relatively common in rural society China. At the same time, there is no special requirement for the ability of the older adults, so the older adults have a strong willingness to help others. In the traditional organization development, the organization and management are relatively professional, which requires individuals to have certain knowledge, culture and leadership skills, which are generally completed by the leaders in the organization. Compared with other mutual-aid services, the management of the mutual-aid service center and organizing activities have certain requirements on the personal ability of the older adults, which includes the ability of organization, coordinating, and communication. Under the circumstance that the education level of the rural older adults is generally low, most of them may not have the ability to participate in management and organizing activities.
The research found that the government’s organization and mobilization for the development of rural mutual-aid care service for the older adults was insufficient. the proportion of the older adults who have received government policy publicity is the highest, only accounting for 34.88%, while the older adults who have joined the association for the older adults only accounts for 10.29% of all the respondents. Although the development of mutual-aid care service for the older adults has been repeatedly proposed in national policies, there is still a lack of clear top-level design and operational policies, resulting in unclear goals and insufficient motivation for local governments to organize and mobilize. Through the case investigation, we found that although the mutual-aid service center was built in rural communities universally, it did not establish a complete management and operation mechanism, and there is a lack of material incentives for the older adults, which is the main reason for the low participation in mutual-aid care service of rural older adults.
How to promote collective action to realize public interest is a classic problem in sociology, management and other subject, and the important role of organizational mobilization has been fully confirmed (Blasco et al., 2019). But based on the effects of the organization mobilize for the older adults on participating in mutual-aid service of the analysis, the promoting effect of policy publicity, older adults association, and material incentives on participating in the activities of management and organization is not significant. On one hand, as mentioned above, this is related to the requirements of these two types of activities on the individual ability, and most of them do not have these abilities, so organizational mobilization cannot play its role. On the other hand, it is also related to the imperfection of current organization mobilization. The main performance is that the local government has not combined the development of rural mutual-aid car service for the older adults with the construction of grassroots autonomous organizations, and fails to fully mobilize the enthusiasm of those older adults who are with higher education and strong organizational ability in rural society. Policy publicity can improve the willingness of the older adults to provide daily services in the mutual-aid service center, which indicates that it is necessary to increase the understanding of the older adults on mutual care for the development of mutual care for the older adults. Policy publicity can improve the willingness of the older adults to provide daily services in the mutual-aid service center, which indicates that it is necessary to increase the understanding of the older adults on mutual-aid service for the older adults. The requirement of providing daily services for the older adults is not too high, and appropriate guidance from the government can promote the enthusiasm of the older adults to participate. Material incentives can significantly increase the willingness of the older adults to help others. In rural areas China, there has always been a social tradition of mutual help and support. Under the active advocacy of the government, such good social relations and individual behaviors have been further consolidated and promoted. Helping others can not only obtain good social relations, but also obtain certain economic subsidies, which has double benefits for the older adults, which also indicates that the older adults’ participation in mutual support for the older adults is jointly driven by social rationality and economic rationality.
The mutual-aid care services developed in other countries, such as Time Bank and co-housing model, also has important implications for the development of mutual assistance pension in China. On the one hand, the spirit of helping each other among the older adults should be cultivated. And it is necessary to gather the consensus that the older adults should take active actions to jointly deal with the demand of aging life. On the other hand, the government should promote the development of mutual-aid care service system, focusing on the establishment of capital investment mechanism and organizational management mechanism.
Drawing from the research conclusions, this study proposes three policy recommendations to foster the advancement of mutual-aid services for older adults. Firstly, it is essential to delineate the role of mutual-aid services in addressing the needs of older adults in rural areas and tailor the service system to their actual requirements. Secondly, mutual-aid services for older adults should be fully integrated into rural social governance. This involves cultivating social capital within older adult groups, fostering harmonious and friendly social relationships, and promoting mutual trust and assistance among them through innovative social governance practices. Thirdly, the government should enhance supportive policies for the development of mutual-aid services for older adults. This includes raising awareness of the value and concept of mutual aid through policy promotion, refining the organizational structure and management mechanisms of mutual-aid service centers, and encouraging capable older adults to participate in the organization and management of these services. Crucially, the government must commit financial investment to the development of mutual-aid services for older adults, assuming key responsibilities in infrastructure development and providing material incentives.
There are some limitations in this research. Firstly, due to the constraints of project funding and personnel, the research team has only carried out social surveys in 58 villages in 3 provinces in China. In the future, we aim to make improvements in two aspects. On one hand, we will focus on the content related to mutual-aid pension services in major Chinese social survey databases, such as CGSS and CHARLS, and conduct relevant research. On the other hand, we will continue to carry out social surveys on mutual-aid pension, expanding the scope and sample size of our investigations. Secondly, there are few research literature closely related to this research theme, so this research is slightly lacking in theoretical discussion. But it is certain that mutual-aid care service for the older adults in China is bound to have broad development prospects. We will continue to work hard in this research area.
Footnotes
Acknowledgements
Thanks to all those who participated in the social survey, and they can use the data for research.
Ethical Considerations and informed consent statements
Ethical approval for this study was granted by the Medical Ethics Committee of Xi’an Jiaotong University Health Sciences Center (Approval No. 2018-1200). Before conducting the survey, we informed the participants of the research objectives, the content of the survey questionnaire, and the data confidentiality measures. The participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study if they are willing to participate to this study.
Funding
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This study was supported by Key Research and Development Program of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (2022BEG01001) and Postdoctoral Science Foundation of Shaanxi Province (2023BSHEDZZ87).
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Data Availability Statement
The datasets used in this study belong to our research team, and data does not involve any personal privacy information. The datasets are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.