The commitment and burden to care for children, adults with disabilities and older people depend on interactive political-socio-cultural factors. These factors include societal values and norms as well as existing policies and services for caregivers.
In Asian societies where traditional Confucian values – such as the obligation to nurture a child and a filial responsibility –are fostered, families are usually the first-line caregivers. It seems that the duty of family caregiving in Asian societies is still heavily reliant on family members, no matter whether the individuals requiring the care are children, members with disabilities or older people. The care policies may also echo these cultural values by relying on family-based caregiving for society welfare provision. In comparison, western culture may regard caring more as a collective responsibility and the position of caregiver as a social role. Theresulting long-term care costs are also publically supported.
Recently, Asian caregivers have encountered even more challenges in the transforming situations. For instance, the ‘double-ageing’ issue becomes crucial among families with members who have intellectual disabilities (ID) in Hong Kong. This isdue to an increasing life expectancy of people with ID and insufficient provisions of both residential and community-basedcare services. Increasing ageing populations in Asian countries (e.g., Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong) has further accumulated caregiving stresses on adult children. Rural migration in mainland Chinahas created a shift in the caregiving system– the able grandparents living in the countryside take care of the dependent grandchildren. Asian caregivers who have migrated to the west face other challenges such as resolving conflicts between their cultural beliefs and receiving available services provided by the local government.
In view of these factors, we propose a panel session from the Asian perspective. Papers that discuss caregiving on 1) cultural, 2) policy or 3) service level are welcome.
Stream convenors
Phyllis King Shui WONG, Department of Social Work, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, pkswong@swk.cuhk.edu.hk
Haijing DAI, Department of Social Work, The Chinese University of Hong Kong,  hjdai@swk.cuhk.edu.hk