An old medical text from the Qing Dynasty.What does China know about the importance of social workers that our own government doesn’t?
That question came to mind after I read an op-ed in The New York Times last week titled No Country for Old Age by Mark W. Frazier, professor of politics at the New School. Frazier wrote about China’s growing elderly population, and highlighted the financial issues China is facing in providing retirement income for the 325 million Chinese who were promised financial security in their old age. We in the United States are also concerned with similar issues, which occupied much of the recent presidential election’s discussions.
Having an interest in this issue myself, I was aware of one aspect that was not mentioned in Frazier’s insightful op-ed: the role of social workers in addressing the needs of China’s aging population. The Chinese government has a plan to build an army of 3 million social workers by 2020. This is in direct response to its aging demographics—by 2050, 480 million Chinese (50 percent more than the entire U.S. population) will be over the age of 60 and many will need assistance that their families can’t provide, especially given the legacy of the one-child policy.
There are currently 200,000 social workers in China serving a population of 1.3 billion, so this is a huge mission. According to Xiao Caiwei, vice president of China’s National Committee on Ageing, who spoke recently at the United Nations, China is focusing on developing age-friendly communities and acknowledges that social workers are key to assisting vulnerable populations with critical social issues. The Chinese government has been bringing in experts from around the world to help them figure out how to accomplish this mission. A John A. Hartford Foundation grantee, Darla Spence Coffey, president of the Council on Social Work Education, traveled there at the end of 2012 to participate in the discussions.
China’s central government is providing strong support for social work education to build the workforce. In turn, social work scholars are having an influence on direction, policies and practice, according to an article in the most recent Journal of Social Work Education. What China is doing is of great interest to me because while the government there has come to realize that more social workers are needed to assist in caring for its older people, here in the U.S., social work is given short shrift. I am not advocating that social work is more important than any other health care profession, but it does belong as part of the team.
When we discuss interdisciplinary team care, often social work isn’t included. When we talk about providing a continuum of care that includes hospital to home, community-based services usually provided or coordinated by social workers isn’t given the attention that it deserves and needs. In China’s case, those responsible for planning for their aging population clearly believe that the skills of social workers will be essential to create a functioning long-term care system that can support older adults.
What does China know that our government doesn’t? And how can we help our leaders to know it?
We at the Hartford Foundation know that caring for older people takes a team. The general public knows that physicians and nurses are essential positions on the team, but they do not know why social workers are also essential. We need to increase awareness and understanding among our leaders and the public so that our country is also thoughtfully planning ways to provide the best care for our rapidly growing older population.