Decision to employ retired nurses to work in senior care businesses: A qualitative study

Abstract

Healthcare systems worldwide continue to face shortages of nursing professionals due to the increasing demands of the nursing field. At the same time, the existing workforce continues to age and retire (Aluttis et al., 2014;Sirisub et al., 2019). Thailand's demographic structure has changed into an ageing society (Rojpaisarnkit & Rodjarkpai, 2021). According to the United Nations' World Population Prospects 2019, the number of Thai senior citizens aged 65 or older will more than double from 9.0 million people, or 13.0 per cent of the total population in 2020, to 19.5 million people, or 29.6 per cent of the total population, by 2050. Furthermore, this figure is forecasted to reach 35.1 per cent by 2095 (Akaraphanth, 2015;Manakitsomboon, 2021), meaning one out of every three Thai people will be a senior citizen (Udomkerdmongkol, 2021). In addition, the number of older adults living alone appears to be increasing.For example, 8.7% of older adults lived alone in 2014, while older adults who lived alone increased to 12% in 2021 (Foundation of