Social Policy of Ageing; A Review of Elderly Care Policies in Developed Countries

Elderly care is affected by the welfare and support system and also the economic and socio-cultural changes of each society. With increasing in the ageing population, the occurrence of migration flows and the Spatial and geographical distance between family members, the expansion of modern urban life, the expansion of education, employment and economic agency of women, lifestyle changes and inability of traditional care and support patterns, the issue of elderly care can be problematic and challenging and leading to more intergenerational and Intra-generational family tensions. With problematization of elderly care in today’s world, the researcher is pushed to review the experience of developed countries in elderly care policies. In this study, the review of elderly care policies of three countries, China, the United States and Sweden, has been selected. These countries have experienced population ageing. The results of this study show that care policies for elderly in addition to day care in nursing homes, it is better to move towards community-based care and home care, and the government should provide the necessary institutional supports in this regard. Improving the social security and protection system for the elderly by the government, diversification of care services, training, social empowerment and social facilitation, protection laws and the development of social infrastructures can improve the quality of care elderly. In these areas, training to elderly care workforce, institutional support for providers of informal care, home care, social support for family caregivers of the elderly, community-based nursing models, reforms in nursing curricula and ageing studies with focus on social gerontology and Sociology of Ageing, training of ageing specialists, geriatric medicine, nursing care for the elderly and social work of the elderly, using the capacities of the municipal sector, Non-governmental organizations and charities is one of the most important policy recommendations of the present study that can be a guide to the social policy of ageing  is somewhat different; Because the retirement age of women in Iran is different from men. In the United States, however, there is no difference between men and women. In fact, protective services for retired women in Iran are considered to be more important than in the US.