Factors Associated with Healthy Ageing among Chinese Rural Empty Elderly Nesters and Future Focus of Health Services

Abstract

Background Like most countries in the world, China is stepping into an aging society and Healthy aging (HA) faces great challenges. Chinese rural empty elderly nesters (CREEN) as the vulnerable groups of ageing populations, providing health services for CREEN needs more attention and guidance. Methods Using the method of logistic regression, four dimensions of HA among 618 respondents were separately analyzed based on the fifth public panel data of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). Results 41.42% respondents met the recommended good physical health (PA), ‘being literate’, ‘expectation of receiving long-term care in the future from family’, and ‘good physical health of grown children’ were significant protective factors for PA. 83.17% respondents had good daily activity level, ‘aged under 60 years’ and ‘grown children being literate’ were significant protective factors while ‘CREEN once lived with grown children’ was a significant risk factor. 59.39% respondents had good psychological health, ‘Male sex’, ‘Expectations of receiving long-term care in the future’, and ‘Physical health of grown children’ were significant protective factors. 36.73% respondents met the corresponding criteria of good social participation, ‘aged under 60 years’ was a significant protective factor while ‘CREEN once lived with grown children’ was also a significant risk factor. Conclusions For the CREEN, social participation, physical health and psychological health should be the focus and direction of providing health services. One factor could have different influence on different aspects of HA among CREEN. When health services are provided for CREEN, the second focus should assess comprehensive impact and do the long-term observation. Providing health services for CREEN should not only focus on ‘What they have’ and ‘What they don’t have’, but also focus on ‘What they have and then lose’, especially factors associated with their grown children. Those points should be the future focus of health services for CREEN.