The continuity of filial piety and its influence on the practice of eldercare institutions in Vietnam today – Through the case of eldercare institutions in Ho Chi Minh City

ABSTRACT

In Vietnam, under a population aging background, “elderly caregiver” is the prominent topic. Concerned with this, the traditional filial value has emerged. Traditionally, the filial piety profoundly influenced by agricultural tradition, Confucianism, Buddhism, has been the foundation of intergenerational bond and family-based eldercare. This paper’s goal is to explore how filial value has shaped eldercare culture, how its expressions have been expressed and how it has impacted the new type of elderly care institutions in Vietnam today. My findings revealed that filial piety has been persistently and profoundly remained. Based on this, although the care institutions began to be introduced and evaluated as necessary, their role is limited and subordinate. Accordingly, to consider the long-term elderly care system today in Vietnam, it is necessary to comprehensively explore the filial piety tradition. Through it, the family concept, the religious concept, the gender norm of Vietnamese people could be also observed.

KEYWORDS:

• Vietnamese elderly care
• filial piety
• family-based elderly care
• institutional eldercare

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by [the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, VNU-HCM] under Grant [TC2019-04].

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

This research is funded by University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City under grant number TC2019-04.