ABSTRACT
This paper discusses the ways of controlling the risk of disability and national medical costs out of the falls of the elderly via technology and social support networks. By examining the new factors on the elderly falls under the rapid social transformation, the paper explores the possibilities of building a preventive mechanism using the Chinese culture of filial piety to enable the elderly to improve their living quality.
The study took place in Taiwan and collected data via in-depth interviewing and focus group. The corpus includes two focus groups with 22 practitioners and 38 interviews with the elderly who suffer from falls, as well as the caretakers and experts.
The study finds that, although there used to be institutional prevention of the elderly falls, the social transformation has rendered the circumstances unpredictable, such as the falls caused by stumbling on the pets. It also finds that, because of the change in family structure, the problems of caretaking have pressurized the modern families and traditional filial culture, the main family support network for the elderly rehabilitation. The more the elderly are conscious of empowerment and acquire the family and professional support, the better the effects of prevention are.
150The elderly are more likely to fall because of physical deterioration, and technology is thus needed to develop auxiliary equipment to minimize the risk of elderly falling. The preventative mechanism should firstly establish the ideas of empowerment and enabling with the elderly so that they can start the process of self-protection. The government’s caretaking policies should take into consideration of the elders’ physical and mental needs to provide friendly environment and strengthen the social support system. More importantly, the government should encourage the market development by establishing inter-departmental teams to promote elderly welfare technology, so that the fall prevention system can well function.
