What Healthy Older Adults in China Really Want From Home Care, and How Much

China’s rapid aging makes it urgent to understand what older people who can still care for themselves want from home services. A Frontiers in Public Health study provides a quantified, pay-by-yuan account based on a discrete choice experiment with more than 1,200 functionally independent residents of Xi’an. Led by Xiaoke Yang of Fujian University of Technology with partners at Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine’s Affiliated Rehabilitation Hospital, the research challenges assumptions because the valued services were not primarily medical. Participants prioritized domains including safety—such as one-button emergency call systems and monthly home safety assessments—and household affairs management like home repairs and bill payment. Healthcare options ranged from basic vital-sign monitoring to traditional Chinese medicine physiotherapy, alongside emergency and safety trade-offs measured through hypothetical scenarios.