Difficulties and countermeasures in implementing age-friendly policies in primary health centers in Taiwan

Chen-I Shih; Tuey-Wen Hung; Wei Chen; Hui-Fei Yang; Shu-Li Chia; Yung-Hung Chang; Sheng-Yu Fan

doi:10.1186/s12913-022-08770-0

Difficulties and countermeasures in implementing age-friendly policies in primary health centers in Taiwan

BMC Health Serv Res. 2022 Nov 14;22(1):1346. doi: 10.1186/s12913-022-08770-0.

Authors

Chen-I Shih^#¹, Tuey-Wen Hung^#², Wei Chen³, Hui-Fei Yang², Shu-Li Chia⁴, Yung-Hung Chang⁴, Sheng-Yu Fan⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Community Health, Ditmanson Medical Foundation Chia-Yi Christian Hospital, Chia-Yi, Taiwan.
² Department of Family Medicine, Ditmanson Medical Foundation Chia-Yi Christian Hospital, Chia-Yi, Taiwan.
³ Medical Department, Ditmanson Medical Foundation Chia-Yi Christian Hospital, Chia-Yi, Taiwan.
⁴ Health Promotion Administration, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁵ Institute of Gerontology, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, No.1, University Road, Tainan City, 701, Taiwan. shengyu@mail.ncku.edu.tw.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Background: Taiwan is predicted to become a super-aged society by 2025, and primary health centers (PHCs) are set to play a crucial role in the care of older adults. The Taiwanese government has developed an age-friendly verification framework for PHC. The aims of this study were to explore the difficulties faced by PHC staff in the implementation of age-friendly policies and their solution strategies.

Methods: This study adopted a qualitative research method. The first stage involved conducting five focus groups with the responsible staff of PHCs (n = 41) that have been certified "age-friendly." The focus groups covered the effectiveness, difficulties, and resources of PHCs in regards to the introduction of age-friendly policies. In the second stage, in-depth interviews were conducted with executives of PHCs (n = 5), both certified and not certified as age-friendly, to further compare the difficulties faced by these two types of PHCs, thereby gaining perspectives for solution strategies. The principles of grounded theory were used for data analysis.

Results: Four major PHC strategies are employed in the promotion of age-friendliness. First, organizational management, through which managers apply management methods and analyze the present PHC-related health concerns; second, resource utilization, which refers to the tallying, linking, and integrating of resources; third, business operation process, in which work efficiency is improved through the combination of business operations and staff training; finally, hardware improvement, which is achieved through comprehensive cataloging of facility environments.

Conclusion: The implementation of age-friendliness in PHCs requires the efforts of both the service units and government. With resources provided by the government, PHCs can integrate management methods, businesses operations, and essential resources. Moreover, PHC executives can lead their teams in promoting age-friendly policies, and closely monitor their effectiveness.

Keywords: Age-friendly; Primary health centers; Quality management.

MeSH terms

Aged
Fitness Centers*
Focus Groups
Humans
Policy
Primary Health Care*
Taiwan