The Significance of Culture Care in the Evaluation System of Indigenous Cultural Health Station Service in Taiwan

Abstract

In 2015, the Taiwan government launched the Long-term Care Plan 2.0 that contains a chapter devoted to the Indigenous peoples. The Council of Indigenous Peoples promotes the development of a long-term care system that provides dignified care service for elders in the tribes and focuses on the subjectivity of the ethnic culture. For over a decade, among the long-term care services for the tribes, the Cultural Health Station (CHS) has served as the facility put forward by the government for the implementation of care centers with the important mission to develop a sustainable long-term care system for elders. This article examines the relevance of cultural care in the practice and in the evaluation system of cultural health stations. It summarizes and analyzes the relationship between cultural subjectivity and care services through the data of "excellent performance" in the evaluations of CHSs across the country. Based on this analysis, the study further explores how CHS, which operates under the evaluation system, reinforces the local characteristics in its cultural care services. Finally, the paper attempts to put forward views and suggestions on how the CHS can develop a more suitable tribal cultural care model.

The results show that among 31 CHSs with excellent performance in the evaluation in 2020, the functions of CHS have been upgraded from the general primary prevention and long-term care function to include diversified services. This paper finds that the indicators related to culture care in the evaluation system can promote the development of individual care models in CHS, including 1) professional care that emphasizes the cultivation of local manpower to improve the quality of service; 2) friendly environment and activity design that provide safe and appropriate care to the elderly; and 3) innovative services that respect local cultures by empowering elders  to contribute their wisdom and skills through participation in CHS activities. In order to ensure that the evaluation system supports the CHS to further develop a sustainable local cultural care service with more cultural subjectivity, it is recommended that the government encourage the tribes to strengthen their own cultural characteristics and provide flexibility for CHS operations so as to implement culture care that meets local needs and supports the uniqueness of the tribal health stations.