Dr. Marc Trabsky, senior lecturer of La Trobe University, delivered a speech titled “The Economisation of End of Life Care in China”. He said, we first need to recognise how economic language charges the relationship between ageing patients, families, and medical practitioners, before tracing how socioeconomic inequalities can lead to different experiences of end of life care.

Cheng Mingming

Cheng Mingming, associate professor of the School of Sociology and Political Science, Shanghai University, gave a talk themed “Opportunities and Challenges Facing the Mode and Social Work of End of Life Care in Shanghai”. He said, since 2012, Shanghai has explored the community-based end of life care model, which to some extent provides favorable conditions for the development of social work in the field. After years of operation, social work related to the model has seen certain headway, but faces more challenges in clinical practice, standard indicators, home service, and case management.

Fang Chao

Fang Chao, visiting research fellow of the Centre for Death and Society, University of Bath, made a speech themed “Senior Care and End-of-Life Care of Involuntarily Childless Older People (ICOP) in Britain and China”. He mapped a largely under-researched group of vulnerable older people in Britain and China, and used a qualitative method to explore ICOP’s experience of their needs and issues in old age and at the end of life in Britain and China.

Liang Haixiang

Liang Haixiang, assistant researcher of the Institute of Sociology, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, delivered a speech themed “Living Arrangement and Mental Health of Migrant Seniors”. He analyzed the differences between the migrant senior population and local population in living arrangements, allocation of public resources, social participation and psychological health, and discussed the mechanisms affecting the mental health of migrant seniors.

Yan Song

Yan Song, professor of Psychology, Department of Psychology and Methods, Jacobs University Bremen gGmbH, gave a talk titled “Psychological Characteristics and Mental Health Maintenance of Seniors”. He analyzed the changes in the psychological activities of individuals at an old age from the perspective of psychology, including the cognition process, individuality, social adaptation and attitudes, as well as the psychosocial problems and psychological characteristics of the aging population.

Lv Nan

Lv Nan, associate professor of the Department of Social Work, Renmin University of China, made a speech titled “Caring for Disabled Older Adults with Musculoskeletal Conditions: A Transactional Model of Caregiver Burden, Coping Strategies, and Depressive Symptoms”. He found that different pressure sources will result in burdens on carers from different perspectives, which will lead to different coping strategies being adopted by carers.

Peter Eibich

Dr. Peter Eibich, Deputy Head and Research Scientist of Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, gave a talk themed “Does Retirement Affect Secondary Preventive Health Services? Evidence from Breast Cancer Screening”. He found that retirement reduces secondary preventive care use. This effect is not driven by changes in health or income. In addition, the generosity of the social health insurance system and women’s perceptions about cancer prevention and treatment are important mechanisms.

Yang Fang

Yang Fang, associate professor of the School of Sociology and Political Science, Shanghai University, delivered a speech titled “Predictors of Loneliness Incidence in Chinese Older Adults from a Life Course Perspective: A National Longitudinal Study”. He found that older ages and self-rated poor health increased the odds of the incidence of loneliness, whereas receiving one or more years of schooling, rural-urban migration, living with family members, having a white-collar job, having a good family economic status, being currently married, having a higher resilience and social support decreased the odds of the incidence of loneliness.

Chen Jia

Chen Jia, lecturer of the School of Sociology and Political Science, Shanghai University, gave a talk titled “The Division of Labor in Instrumental Support for multi-child families in China: Are There Different Family Patterns?”. Her research shows that in Chinese multi-child families, there are three modes of division of labor that provide instrumental support for children: (1) “low-average-low differentiation”, (2) “medium average-high differentiation” and (3) “high average-low differentiation”. The characteristics of different parents and children determine the pattern of intergenerational interactions in multi-child families.