This special issue for Journal of Gerontological Social Work focuses on disseminating scientific evidence on the topic of social work practice with Chinese-background older adults including those who live in mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, and others who live in other countries as immigrants.
Aims: This special issue provides a platform to highlight social work practice research with Chinese-background older adults aimed to improve their financial, physical, and psychosocial wellbeing. Practice research will be broadly defined to include macro, mezzo and micro practice with Chinese background older adults. Manuscripts may examine practice models in gerontological social work practice, program or intervention efficacy and effectiveness, or sociocultural factors critical to social work practice with Chinese older adults. We expect studies to draw on empirical data and shed light on social work practice development in this field. In rare circumstances, conceptual papers that address new theories or frameworks developed to guide social work practice with older Chinese will be considered.
Background and Significance: Mainland China has the largest aging population in the world. Facing the enormous needs of older adult services, gerontological social work practice is developing fast in mainland China, and increasingly becoming localized and specialized. However, a coordinated health and social service system for the aging population remains lacking, and wide gaps in service access and use due to urban-rural locations, gender, and socioeconomic status have resulted in health disparities among Chinese older adults. It is critical to understand how social work practice is changed to respond to the needs of Chinese older adults. The accomplishments as well as lessons learned in the field in mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau will expand the current knowledge of social work practices among older Chinese adults.
Furthermore, we need to understand older Chinese immigrants in other countries. Older immigrants encounter structural and sociocultural challenges that affect their healthy aging in place. We are interested in understanding social work practice adopted to promote healthy aging, and evidence-based practices developed or adapted to address existing health or mental health problems among Chinese older immigrants and/or their family caregivers.
Potential topics and methods include but not limited to the following:
Research that uses RCT design or quasi-experimental design to study the efficacy of social work practice or programs.
Program evaluation that uses propensity score matching
Case studies of innovative social work practice models
Adaptation of evidence-based practice in Chinese older adults
Qualitative studies of social work practice with understudied populations such as rural older adults, older adults with mild cognitive impairment or dementia, older adults who have experienced loss of their single child, and older adults living in nursing homes.
Systematic reviews and meta-analyses of social work practice with older Chinese adults.
Expected number of articles: 10 to 12
