Exploration of meaning, motivation, and preparedness to care amongst the One-Child Policy generation in China.

Three prominent themes: (i) Caregiving beliefs, (ii) Caregiving conditions and (iii) Contextual factors were identified under an overarching theme "Competing pressures- meanings, motivation and preparedness". Despite the inherent stress, participants envisaged providing or organising care in the future to fulfil Xiao, and most viewed long-term care settings as unviable. Ultimately, the findings suggested that the actual performance of caregiving would not always measure up to ideal expectations, resulting in 'filial discrepancy' i.e., a gap between societal expectations for caregiving to older relatives and actual caregiving performance. This could adversely impact the caregivers and quality of care provided. The findings highlighted the urgent need to develop culturally attuned services, including education and training for family caregivers, health and social care professionals. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.