Understanding Older Chinese Immigrants' Perceptions of Ageing and their Health-Related Help-Seeking Behaviours in Rural Australia

Abstract

The number of Chinese immigrants in Australia has increased significantly over the past two decades, and their ageing issues have gradually become the focus of concern. This study aims to fill the literature gap by investigating older Chinese immigrants' experiences and perceptions of growing older in rural Australia in order to gain an understanding of their health-related help-seeking behaviours in this context. This study is situated in a qualitative interpretive paradigm. It uses a transcultural perspective to inform a case study methodology, and it adopts the Theory of Planned Behaviour as an interpretive framework to guide the study. A combination of purposive sampling and snowball sampling strategies was used in recruitment, and six Chinese immigrants aged 60–85 years who resided in rural Australia were invited to participate in the study. Individual semi-structured, in-depth interviews were used to gather data, and thematic analysis was applied to analyse the interview data. This study found that the older Chinese immigrants were living in two cultures, and this forced them to reconstruct their cultural beliefs, especially in relation to filial expectations and maintaining harmony in the family. Further, because of a lack of English proficiency, they had greater difficulties dealing with ageing, especially in accessing health care services in rural Australia. These findings have implications for policy and practice related to migrant health care and rural community health practice.