Shareholding Networks for Care in Rural Thailand: Experiences of Older Persons and Their Family Members

Most  members  of  the  older  population  in  Thailand  live  in  rural  areas  while  their  children  live  in  cities.  With  the  joint  family  system  separated,  elderly  Thai persons often have to care for themselves, and opportunities for them to get  involved  in  community  care  remain  limited.  In  response,  the  aim  of  this  study  was  to  describe  olderpersons’  and  their  family  members’  experiences  with  shareholding  networks  for  the  care  of  older  people  in  rural  Thailand.  Paired  interviews  with  five  older  persons  and  five  of  their  family  members  were conducted, and collected data were subjected to content analysis, which yielded  results  organized  around  two  themes: older  persons’  outsider  status  and disregard for older persons’ individuality.Whereas the theme of outsider status  describes  shortcomings  in  healthcare  encounters,  the  theme  of  disre-gard for individuality describes the lack of engagement of authorities and ca-regivers  in  older  persons’  care.  In  that  sense,  the  concept of  participation  emerged  as  a  framework  for  understanding  interviewees’  experiences.  Given  findings  from  local  authorities,  older  individuals  and  theirfamily  members  should engage in dialogue in order to support healthcare based on shared un-derstanding