导语

  

内容提要

  

    刘素素著的《香港社区老人社会支持网络研究（英文版）》通过对香港社区394名老人的调查研究，探究老年人的社会支持网络构成及功能，以及他们如何运用积极心理学框架下的应对策略对待老化过程中的问题与危机，以实现正向老龄化的愿景。本研究采用量化研究为主，质性研究为辅的研究方法，通过对国内外老龄化相关理念的梳理，确立了中国社会背景下正向老龄化的研究框架和量表。借鉴社会支持的护航模型和社会情绪选择理论，研究发现，香港社区老年人拥有较大的同辈群体网络，并且该群体与老年人的应对策略呈正相关，共同促进正向老龄化的实现。

    刘素素，女，生于山东，香港城市大学应用社会科学系博士，苏州大学社会学院讲师，苏州大学首届优秀青年学者。主要研究方向为社会工作理论、社会老年学、社会支持网络与社会资本。目前承担江苏省高校哲学社会科学项目“草根志愿组织社会资本的建构与利用”；在SSCI期刊、CSSCI期刊等发表论文8篇。

Chapter 1  INTRODUCTION
  1.1  Background
    1.1.1  The situation of global aging
    1.1.2  Hong Kong.A fast-aging society
    1.1.3  Positive aging.A productive approach to well-being in old age
    1.1.4  Hong Kong elderly:Living under a blending Chinese culture
  1.2  Research gap and research problems
    1.2.1  What are the components of positive aging among the community-dwelling elderly in contemporary Hong Kong?
    1.2.2  What is the effect of social support networks and coping on positive aging?
    1.2.3  What is the effect of emotional closeness on positive aging?
    1.2.4  What is the role of domestic helpers in providing social support to the elderly?
  1.3  Rationale and significance of the study
  1.4  Research objectives
  1.5  Layout of the thesis
Chapter 2  LITERATURE REVIEW
  2.1  Overview of literature review
  2.2  Research approaches of aging
    2.2.1  Positive aging ~ successful aging
    2.2.2  Subjective well-being ~quality of life
  2.3  Social support network
    2.3.1  Definition of social support network
    2.3.2  Concepts in relation to social support network
    2.3.3  Dimensions of social support network
  2.4  Coping
    2.4.1  Coping:Origins and definitions
    2.4.2  Coping strategies:Dimensions and theoretical background
  2.5  Domestic helper as a support provider
    2.5.1  Introduction
    2.5.2  The Hong Kong context
    2.5.3  The Chinese mainland context
    2.5.4  FDHs in Singapore Japan
    2.5.5  Summary
Chapter 3  CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
  3.1  Theoretical background of the study
    3.1.1  Convoy model of social support
    3.1.2  Socioemotional selectivity theory
    3.1.3  Hierarchical compensatory model
    3.1.4  Strengths perspective
  3.2  Conceptual framework
    3.2.1  Conceptual framework of social support network
    3.2.2  Conceptual framework of positive aging
    3.2.3  Integrated conceptual framework of the study
  3.3  Hypotheses
    3.3.1  Hypotheses set 1
    3.3.2  Hypotheses set 2
    3.3.3  Hypotheses set 3
  3.4  Summary
Chapter 4  METHOD
  4.1  Research design.A mixed-method study
  4.2  Pilot study:In-depth interview
    4.2.1  Sampling
    4.2.2  Sample size determination
    4.2.3  Informants recruitment
  4.2.4  Construction of interview guidelines
    4.2.5  Data collection
    4.2.6  Data analysis
    4.2.7  A review of the qualitative study
  4.3  Main study:Cross-sectional survey
    4.3.1  Sampling
    4.3.2  Sample size determination
    4.3.3  Multi-stage sampling procedure
    4.3.4  Data collection
    4.3.5  Data analysis
  4.4  Scale construction and validation
    4.4.1  Scale construction
    4.4.2  Scale validation
  4.5  Summary
Chapter 5  FINDINGS OF IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW
  5.1  Case profiles
  5.2  Thematic findings
    5.2.1  Thematic findings on social support network
    5.2.2  Thematic findings on positive aging
    5.2.3  Thematic findings on stress
    5.2.4  Thematic findings on coping
  5.3  Summary
Chapter 6  DESCRIPTIVE FINDINGS OF SURVEY
  6.1  Sample Characteristics
    6.1.1  Demographic factors and the sample features
    6.1.2  Social-economic factors and indicators of elder caregiving
  6.2  Descriptive statistics of main variables
  6.3  Correlations between main variables and demographic factors
  6.4  Summary
Chapter 7  HYPOTHESES TESTING
  7.l  Hypotheses testing
    7.1.1  Testing of hypothesis set 1
    7.1.2  Testing of hypothesis set 2
    7.1.3  Testing of hypothesis set 3
  7.2  Summary
Chapter 8  DOMESTIC HELPERS AS A SUPPORT PROVIDER
  8.1  Support provided by domestic helpers
    8.1.1  Descriptive statistics of respondents who employ domestic helpers
    8.1.2  Extent of satisfaction towards services provided by domestic helpers
  8.2  Employment of domestic helpers and positive aging
  8.3  Pros and cons of employing household domestic helpers
  8.4  Discussion and summary
    8.4.1  A variety of support provided by domestic helpers
    8.4.2  The relationship between employment of domestic helpers and positive aging
    8.4.3  A large pool of employing domestic helpers in elder care in the future
    8.4.4  Summary
Chapter 9  DISCUSSION
  9.1  Overview
  9.2  Expanded Positive Aging Index (PAD as a validated tool to measure well-being in later life
    9.2.1  Expanded PAI as a validated measurement tool for Chinese community-dwelling older adults
    9.2.2  Expanded PAl as a tool to measure a two-factor model of positive aging
  9.3  The interpretation of social network composition and the prevalence of peer support
    9.3.1  The interpretation of social network composition in the survey
    9.3.2  The prevalence of peer support among community-dwelling older adults
    9.3.3  The preference of companionship support from peer groups
  9.4  The effect of social support networks on positive aging
    9.4.1  The contribution of family and peer support networks to positive aging
    9.4.2  The interpretation of emotional closeness and its effect on positive aging
  9.5  The significant functions of social support
  9.6  Coping in later life and its mediating effects on social support network and positive aging
    9.6.1  Age and coping
    9.6.2  The mediating effect of coping on social support network and positive aging
  9.7  Summary
Chapter 10  IMPLICATIONS OF THE STUDY
  10.1  Recommendations
    10.1.1  Promoting positive aging in Chinese societies
    10.1.2  Investing in and consolidating the social support network of the elderly
    10.1.3  Improving coping capacity in later life
    10.1.4  Improving the service quality of domestic helpers
  10.2  Limitations
  10.3  Directions for future research
    10.3.1  Longitudinal study
    10.3.2  Further research in relation to social support network
    10.3.3  Further research on emotional closeness
    10.3.4  Survey of a more representative sample
    10.3.5  Validation of expanded PAl
Chapter 11  CONCLUSIONS
  11.1  Contributions
    11.1.1  Contribution to knowledge building
    11, 1.2  Contribution to model testing
    11.1.3  Contribution to policy making
    11.1.4  Contribution to social work practice
  11.2  Conclusion
BIBLIOGRAPHY
APPENDIX A  In-depth interview guidelines
APPENDIX B  Survey questionnaire