Demand And Compensation: A Study On The Consumption Behavior Of Dietary Supplements For Urban Elderly

With the prosperity of silver hair market,the consumption of dietary supplements for the elderly has aroused social debate.In China,dietary supplements are a kind of specific functional food with improved health and should not be used for disease treatment.However,because its raw materials are mostly Chinese medicinal materials,the characteristics of drug and food homology make dietary supplements in the gray zone between food and medicine,and there are many hidden dangers.At present,the consumption behavior of both dietary supplement industry and the elderly group is questioned and criticized by the public,and the subjectivity of the elderly as consumers is ignored and weakened.In the past,the study of dietary supplement consumption behavior in the elderly population focused on the emotional attribution of individualized psychological level,which not only defined the emotional demand itself,but also lacked the investigation of the multiple needs outside the emotion.Secondly,emotional compensation does not show specific compensation content,form and process in previous studies,which can not prove the particularity of dietary supplement to the demand compensation for the elderly.Furthermore,the consumption phenomenon of dietary supplements for the elderly in China is linked to multiple issues such as medical treatment and old-age care.The consumption theory derived from the West can not be fully applied to the localization context of our country,and there is a space for exploration in the related social work intervention research.Based on this background,the study hopes to further explore the logic behind the consumption behavior of dietary supplements from the perspective of the elderly consumers' complaints,and on this basis to formulate the intervention strategies of social work.Behind consumption is the dissatisfaction of demand,and taking demand as the breakthrough point is also the concern of the elderly consumers themselves.G city of Anhui Province will be used as a field point,using qualitative research orientation and purposeful sampling to conduct semi-structured and semi-open in-depth interviews with elderly consumers and related subjects.In the perspective of demand-based,people-oriented and risk-control in social work,the "demand-compensation" analysis framework composed of four dimensions: policy,market,individual experience and individual values is studied to investigate the demand and compensation process behind dietary supplement consumption in the elderly.Through the analysis of the full text,this paper puts forward an integrated interpretation framework for the multiple effects of the structure and dynamic force behind the consumption behavior of dietary supplements for the elderly in the local context.The specific contents are as follows :(1)The needs behind the consumption of dietary supplements for the elderly include medical needs as a direct means of health promotion,pension needs as a direct goal of health,and psychological needs as a direct cause of health.The content of these needs is not simply focused on the individual level of emotion,but the integration of a good vision of health care and old-age services,including the interweaving of individuality and sociality;(2)The compensation mechanism of the consumption demand of dietary supplements for the elderly is the compound compensation with dietary supplements as the medium and the satisfaction of emotional needs.The commercialization of health and emotion is the premise of its occurrence,which presents the characteristics of the coexistence of construction and initiative,the indirect substitution and the combination of antecedent and resistance;(3)The shaping forces behind the compensation of consumption demand for dietary supplements for the elderly include the two-way push of policy,the construction of market demand and the stimulation of subjectivity,the continuous influence of individual experience on consumption behavior and the contradiction and struggle of individual values.To sum up,dietary supplement company has formed a comprehensive health field with dietary supplement as the medium and compound compensation for the multiple needs of the elderly,which is also the reason why the elderly favor dietary supplements.Single individualized emotional attribution can easily cover up the realistic dilemma behind consumption.The purpose of this study is to find the deep appeal behind the current consumption of dietary supplements for the elderly.As far as social work itself is concerned,its intervention in the consumption of dietary supplements for the elderly will be beneficial to comprehensively investigate the needs of the elderly consumers,enhance the attention to the main body of the elderly consumers and reduce the risk of the elderly consumers in the market.At the same time,focusing on the daily life situation and consumption behavior of the elderly group will also help to provide the knowledge and technical basis for the social work intervention strategy of dietary supplement consumption in the elderly.At the end of the study,we put forward the social work intervention strategies including the whole cycle risk identification and intervention plan formulation,the promotion of multi-subject linkage and coordination,and the macro-policy advocacy and concept training.In this process,social work will play its role as a bridge to integrate the resources and strength of health responsibility at all levels,so as to promote the optimization and improvement of service for the elderly.