家庭主义传统影响下围墙里的积极父母--基于北京市Y养老院高龄自理老人生活经验的研究

Active Parents with Traditional Familism Orientation within the Wall:A Study of the Life Experiences Of the Oldest Old Self-care Adults in Beijing Y Elderly Home

机构养老的生活质量受到老人、家庭和公众的普遍关心。过去的研究往往强调院舍老人与家庭的脱钩,作为被照顾者在家庭中扮演着边缘化的角色,忽略了他们在家庭生命周期中是代际关系的创造者并始终参与家庭关系的营造。对老人来说,特别是生活能自理的老人,父母角色并不会因为入住养老机构而消解。本研究以行为家庭主义理论为分析框架,探讨老人的父母角色如何影响他们在养老院当中的生活策略与行为方式。采用定性研究方法对北京市Y养老院入住5年以上的17位高龄自理老人的院舍生活经验进行深入观察,并深度访谈。研究结果表明:(1)养老院被老人视为扮演积极父母的场域,他们在居住安排、经济来源与消费、代际互动和生活展示等方面践行着“解放”成年子女;(2)家庭主义在机构养老模式下仍然具有相当的韧性,老人的代际交往经验、养老院情境因素以及社会系统因素对此共同发挥着作用;(3)院舍自理老人的家庭主义取向向着工具理性的方向再造,对老人有“牺牲”与“解放”的双重影响。本文最后提出从政策层面重塑主客关系,从实务层面提高文化敏感性、开展家庭调查、增加家庭服务和加强干预评估等社会工作服务建议,以期更好地回应院舍自理老人的家庭主义取向。

The quality of life in elderly care institutions is generally concerned by the old adults,theirs families and the public.In the past,studies often emphasized the disengagement of the old adults in institutions from the family,playing a marginalised role as care service users,ignoring that they are the creators of intergenerational relations in the family life cycle and always participate in the construction of family relations.For the old adults,especially those who can take care of themselves,the role of parents will not be dissolved while living in an elderly care institution.This paper discusses how the parent role of old adults affects their life strategies and behavior patterns in care institutions.This paper uses qualitative research methods to observe and conduct in-depth interviews on the residential life experience of 17 self-care oldest-old adults who have lived in Beijing Y Elderly Home fro more than 5 years.The results show that:(1)elderly care institutions are regarded by the old adults as a field in that they can play an ac-tive role as parents.They practice a lifestyle of“freeing”their adult children in living arrangements,economic sources and expenditures,intergenerational interaction and daily life shows.First,the old adults adopt“migratory bird”living behaviors.Through a long-term separate living mode,they have obtained a better quality of life for their families.At the same time,ac-cording to their adult children’s family care needs,especially the need for intergenerational care,they choose to live together for a short time.Secondly,the old adults adopt self-sufficient consumption behaviors.They take their own income and social security as the main sources of income.They carry out consumption behaviors that are within their income and then pursue a better living quality.However,this kind of consumption model faces uncontrollable risks.Thirdly,the old adults adopt self strengthening intergenerational interaction behaviors.The idea of self-empowerment and lightening the burden on their adult children has not only become the intergenerational communication principle of the individuals,but also become a standard of behavior for the group of self-care old adults in the institution.Fourth,the old adults adopt relieved life display behaviors.Through a series of activities in living in the institution,they demonstrate their ability to self-management,ability to inte-grate into a new living environment and their good adaptability.(2)Familism still has considerable resilience in the institutional elderly care mode,which is the outcome of the interac-tion of the intergenerational communication experience of the self-care old adults,the situational factors of the care institu-tions and the social system factors.Among them,the direct reason comes from the experience acquired in the intergenera-tional communication between the old adults and their adult children,that is,the more active parents they play,the more har-monious the intergenerational relationship they can achieve.The additional reason is the group norm in the face-to-face inter-personal interaction environment of the institution,that is,not bothering adult children has become a standard of behavior recognized by the group of self-care old adults in the institution,which could constrain its group members.The fundamental reason is related to the social system factors such as the current imperfect social security system in China.As those adult chil-dren are unable to balance work and family independently,the old adults and their adult children need to form a beneficial al-liance to deal with social risks.(3)The familism orientation of the old adults who take care of themselves in the institutions has been rebuilt in the di-rection of instrumental rationality.In terms of intergenerational resource flow,the old adults calculate resources more ratio-nally and comprehensively,including not only the allocation of their existing economic,material and human resources,but also the reduction of the loss of resources that may be caused to their backbone families.They help their adult children‘lighten the burden’economically,humanly and morally by staying in the institution and taking strategic actions.In terms of the concept of familism,the old adults are more willing to make themselves useful to their adult children than to receive rewards.The instrumental value of the old adults to their families has become an important part of their lifetime value.How-ever,while pursuing their instrumental value to the family,the old adults often underestimate their emotional value to the family.(4)The familism orientation has brought double effects of“sacrifice”and“liberation”to the old adults.In order to fulfil their responsibility to maximize family benefits,the old adults have restrained some of their needs for their adult children in terms of economy,affection and care.However,from the results of the implementation of these familism-orientated behav-iors,the“active parents”role encourages the old adults to discover and accept individualized responsibilities and needs,in-cluding making decisions for themselves,being responsible for themselves,cultivating their own hobbies,maintaining a pri-vate life,meeting their health and leisure needs,and establishing a positive self-image.In this sense,the behavior of familism also brings liberation to the old adults’thoughts.Finally,this paper puts forward some social work service suggestions,such as reshaping the provider-client relation-ship from the policy level,improving cultural sensitivity,carrying out family surveys,increasing family services and strengthening intervention and evaluation from the practical level,in order to better respond to the familism orientation of the self-care old adults living in institutions.