The Trend of Paid Residential Care for Older People Near the End of Life

Paid residential care for the elderly near the end of life is common and increasing in prevalence in Hong Kong, along with the ageing population. Relative to other care duties, the care demand for older people near the end of life can be more complicated. It includes not only conventional assistance with activities of daily living such as feeding and managing medications but also a variety of other care duties such as providing information and emotional support, especially when family members leave for work during the day. Some unreasonable requests or unidentified requests from older people near the end of life can make paid carers impatient, and some deviant behaviours may emerge, such as ignorance of caregiving demands. To improve the psychological wellbeing of older adults, especially those who are at the end of their lives, it is proposed that calling, a term that describes inheriting an occupational identity, can be an important factor that affects these health assistants&s; commitment to their professional roles and shapes their caregiving behaviours. This chapter will review the existing calling literature, illustrate how calling is shaped, and provide valuable suggestions about the issue of assistants&s; calling that affects the quality of caregiving in end of life care.