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7฀ Health-related Quality of Life of the Elderly in Hong Kong: Impact of Social Support Weiqun Lou and Iris Chi 1 Introductio n The ageing of society presents challenges to social and economic developmen t all ove r th e world . A strategic ai m o f th e Worl d Healt h Organizatio n i s t o promote health y agein g s o a s to : (1 ) maximiz e independen t livin g o f olde r persons and promote their further contribution s t o society; and (2 ) minimiz e the demand s fo r famil y an d socia l car e for olde r persons . Th e qualit y o f lif e of th e elderl y populatio n woul d b e greatl y improve d i f thes e goal s coul d b e achieved. As a financial an d economic centre in the Asia-Pacific region , Hong Kon g has becom e mor e an d mor e urbanize d sinc e 1980 . Mor e tha n 95 % o f th e territory is urban. Th e major strateg y o f the Hong Kong government t o cop e with thi s urbanization i s the development o f so-called new towns in outlyin g areas. These new towns were initially built in the boundary are a between th e main centra l urban district s and th e suburbs, and eventuall y in more remot e locations. Man y peopl e wh o live d i n th e densely-populate d urba n part s o f Hong Kon g hav e move d t o th e ne w town s becaus e o f urban redevelopmen t or t o tak e advantag e o f better housin g standard s there . However , relocatio n is not always a positive experience. Poor public transport, lack of communit y services an d fe w job opportunitie s ar e some o f the major complaints . There has been no consensus on the impact of urbanization and relocation 98฀WEIQUN ฀LOU฀AND฀IRIS฀CHI฀ on th e qualit y o f life o f older persons. Hugo (1991 ) summarize d thre e majo r hypotheses tha t coul d appl y t o differen t level s o f socia l an d economi c development. Th e firs t hypothesi s argue s tha t th e qualit y o f lif e o f olde r persons decrease s wit h th e proces s o f urbanizatio n an d socio-economi c development. I n this view, elderly people lose their control of resources, an d their abilit y to functio n i n society is weakened. Thi s results in society losin g its traditional respect for its senior members for their wisdom and experience . Elderly people are force d int o low-incom e jobs o r are forced t o rely on thei r children o r the government fo r suppor t (Cowgil l 1974 ; Hermalin 1995) . Th e second hypothesis proposes a TJ'-shaped pattern for the quality of life of older persons as society becomes more urbanized (Palmor e and Manton 1974) . The quality of life of older persons decreases at the beginning of the urbanizatio n process, but after th e society has developed formal support systems, the quality of life of older persons increases again. The third hypothesis challenges thes e pessimistic views of the relationship between the quality of life of older persons and urbanizatio n (Evandro u e t al. 1986) . It argues tha t living independentl y does not necessarily result in isolation from others , but instead can represen t an achievement of freedom. Therefore , olde r persons could maintain a certain level o f qualit y o f lif e i f the y wer e abl e t o accumulat e adequat e resource s during thei r workin g live s (Michael , Fuch s an d Scot t 1980) . Local cultura l tradition s an d th e leve l o f socio-economi c developmen t have a great effect o n the ability of elderly people to live well, and difference s in loca l condition s ar e reflecte d i n th e variou s hypothese s o n developmen t and th e elderly . However , n o matte r ho w...

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