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AbstractThe role of care planning in addressing eldercare challenges has received increasing attention. However, the influence of the uncertainty triggered by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, in conjuction with significant social unrest, on family eldercare planning remains unclear. This study examines eldercare planning experiences of families in Hong Kong, focusing on the evolving changes and adaptations faced by both local residents and mainland Chinese immigrants during the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2019–2020 social unrest. Through purposive sampling, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 93 local residents and 66 migrants from 2020 to 2021. Five main themes emerged: (1) increased awareness of healthcare preparation and planning during the COVID-19 pandemic, (2) residential care homes as a suboptimal choice after the COVID-19 pandemic, (3) influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on financial planning for eldercare, (4) distant family care after the social unrest, and (5) the need to improve remote care under border restrictions. This study contributes to the literature by examining the intersection of crisis events and eldercare planning, viewing the family as a planning unit. It also deepens the understanding of caregiving within the context of health and social crises, providing valuable insights for the development of future support systems for older adults and their caregivers in similar circumstances.

An innovative mixed-methods approach to exploratory focus group design is presented using a case study conducted with smallholder rice farmers in Vietnam. Understanding human decision-making under the uncertainties of a complex and changing social and environmental context requires a flexible yet structured and theoretically grounded approach. Using Bayesian belief networks as the architecture of our model allows the study to incorporate both qualitative and quantitative data, the former gathered at this stage in a participatory focus group setting and the latter to be collected in a subsequent survey. This framework further lends itself well to incorporating systematic behavioral approaches to decision-making analysis using Ajzen's theory of planned behavior framework, a symbiosis that remains underexplored in the literature. The visual nature of the networks makes them easily accessible to participants, and the proposed technical solutions to field implementation are flexible, inexpensive, and shown in practice to mitigate issues of co-moderating discussion across language barriers. The tools and methods described are transparent, reproducible in comparative contexts, and transferable to a range of research topics and questions.

This book provides multinational evidence on active and healthy ageing. It generates authoritative new knowledge for mutual learning and policymaking in addressing challenges linked with population ageing. The authors discuss how to achieve better active ageing outcomes through appropriate policies including addressing life course determinants of active and healthy ageing. The chapters are distinctive in their focus on quantitative analysis of active and healthy ageing based on a first-of-its-kind composite measure, the Active Ageing Index developed during the 2012 European Year for Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations. Contributors include researchers, civil service representatives, policymakers and other stakeholders from national, regional and European organisations. This edited volume provides a multidisciplinary resource for academics and policy makers in various areas of the social sciences, especially those studying population ageing and its consequences, economists, sociologists, social policy analysts and public health experts

Abstract

Objectives
Informal care provided by adult children is of great importance for older adults' well-being in China. This paper investigates and compares the functional transitions among older adults living in rural areas who receive care from daughters' and from sons' families.


Methods
This study utilizes the "Well-being of Elderly Survey in Anhui Province" (WESAP) from 2001 to 2021. Our sample included 2,797 individuals aged 60 years or older. Functional status was based on the activities of daily living and the instrumental activities of daily living. We employed a random-effects ordered logit model to examine the functional transitions among the older adults.


Results
Receiving care from daughters' families is significantly associated with a lower likelihood of functional decline compared to receiving care from sons' families in rural China. The advantage associated with daughter care becomes more pronounced among older individuals with a severe functional difficulty compared to those with a mild or moderate functional difficulty. The difference is prevalent among older adults aged 75 and older, with less wealth or multiple chronic diseases, or who live alone. Furthermore, among those with severe functional difficulties, the daughter advantage is more significant for fathers as compared to mothers.


Discussion
Nowadays, daughters' families can provide high-quality informal care, often surpassing that offered by sons' families. This daughter advantage becomes even more significant among older adults who have a higher need for family care, such as those with severe disabilities and limited financial resources.

Total fisheries catches by Germany in the Baltic Sea from 1950-2007 were estimated using a method called 'catch reconstruction' that used ICES landing statistics as a baseline, then adjusted these data based on data available from other sources such as ICES stock assessment working group reports and national data, unreported landings, discards, and recreational fishing. Cod (Gadus morhua) contributed the largest proportion of unreported landings, discards, and recreational catches, although herring (Clupea harengus) is also an important commercial species. The reconstructed catch from 1950-2007 was approximately 36% higher than catches attributed to Germany by ICES landing statistics for the same time period. We believe that this reconstruction remains a conservative estimate. Overexploitation of marine resources, either legally or illegally, is a serious problem in many areas of the world including the Baltic Sea. Comprehensive accounts of total catches (in contrast to reported commercial landings only) as well as full public transparency of all data collection, the scientific advice and political decision process will be crucial in any efforts to move towards ecosystem-based management of the Baltic Sea.