Current Status and Challenges of Community-Based Elderly Care Centers in Chongqing, China: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Purpose

China is facing various societal pressures owing to its rapidly aging population. In order to provide evidence-based suggestions to promote elderly care, this study investigated the community-based elderly care centres (CBECCs) in Chongqing of China, focusing on the site selections, physical environment, facilities, and operation.

Methods

All CBECCs in a district of Chongqing were analysed via a single-stage cluster sampling survey design. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data.

Results

A total of 69 CBECCs (60 government-run and 9 collective-run centres) were identified and analysed. Most site selections were reasonable. CBECCs that were located inside of apartment complexes with entrance guards, not located on main roads, and near a market were more popular. Only 4 (13.3%) CBECCs that were not located on the ground floor were equipped with elevators. A small number of CBECCs were near a noise pollution (10.1%) or far from a medical institution (11.6%). Nearly half (42.7%) of CBECCs only had an indoor area of <200 m2. Nearly all CBECCs had sufficient ventilation, natural lighting, and sufficient floor-to-floor height. 51.5% and 88.4% of the CBECCs fully met the criteria of ‘four rooms and one canteen’ and ‘eight functional zones’, but no significant difference was found in terms of the number of people served per month between the CBECCs that met the criteria and those that did not. A quarter of the CBECCs were operated by part-time staff. Only half provided home services (54.5%). The median of average number of people they served every month was 100 (interquartile range = 10–300).

Conclusion

Certain problems existed in the current CBECCs. Better elderly care especially calls for adequate elevator establishment, sufficient indoor and outdoor space, appropriate facilities and service, qualified managers and caregivers. A feasible and evidence-based plan to optimize the physical environment and facilities, functional layout and service provision is crucial to improve the CBECC service.

Keywords:

• community-based elderly care centre
• site selection
• physical environment
• facilities
• cross-sectional survey
• China

Abbreviations

CBECC, community-based elderly care centre; Mdn, median number; IQR, interquartile range.

Ethics Statement

All participants were carefully informed about the protocol and provided written informed consent before inclusion in the study. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Chongqing Medical University.

Disclosure

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This study is supported by Xintu Community Health Promotion Centre of Shanghai, China. The program is named “Capacity building strategy for community health promotion volunteers” (No. C19).