Rural Integration and Resource Integration: A Study on the Sustainable Pathway of Social Work Intervention in Rural Elderly Care Services

Against the backdrop of the deepening aging population in rural China and the impetus of government policies, it is necessary for social work to intervene in rural elderly care services. However, issues related to a lack of resources and sustainability exist both in the methods of intervention by social work organizations and in the operation of rural elderly care service sites. Based on a case study and in-depth interviews conducted at a social work-operated elderly care service center in Village N, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, this study analyzes how social workers can achieve sustained intervention in rural elderly care services and how to promote the sustainability of these services. The findings indicate that through the approach of rural integration, social workers embed themselves into the rural field across three dimensions: organizational structure, local culture, and practical action. In this process of integration, they construct the legitimacy for social workers to carry out services, stimulate the vitality of internal rural resources, enhance the capacity of internal rural resource stakeholders, and simultaneously attract and connect external resource stakeholders to supply resources for rural elderly care services, thereby effectively achieving the integration of internal and external resources. The study concludes that the approach of rural integration enables social workers to rapidly gain legitimacy and facilitates the subsequent delivery of services. Building upon this, effective resource integration can sustain the outcomes of rural elderly care service provision, compensate for resource deficiencies, and enhance the sustainability of rural elderly care services.