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The cross-Atlantic exchange to advance long-term care: background paper prepared for the European Commission and AARP joint conference on long-term care 13 September 2006, Brussels
- Authors:
- TSOLOVA Svetla, MORTENSEN Jorgen
- Publisher:
- Centre for European Policy Studies
- Publication year:
- 2006
- Pagination:
- 26p., bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- Brussels
This background paper begins with a discussion of the overall goal of promoting healthy and active ageing. It highlights the fact that the world’s population is ageing rapidly and with the exception of Japan, the world’s 25 oldest countries are all in Europe. However, the need for long-term care (LTC) services is not dependent on age alone; people with limitations in self-care or mobility, seniors living alone and on low income are also important indicators. Taking this into account, the overall proportion of older people in need of LTC is found to be approximately the same in the US and the EU.
The state of mental health in old-age across the ‘old’ European Union: a systematic review
- Authors:
- RIEDEL-HELLER S.G., BUSSE A., ANGERMEYER M.C.
- Journal article citation:
- Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 113(5), May 2006, pp.388-401.
- Publisher:
- Blackwell Publishing
This review of epidemiological studies conducted in 13 of the 15 countries of the pre-enlargement European Union finds that mental disorders in old age are common, with the most serious threats posed by dementia and depression. While it is clear that the prevalence of dementia increases with age, the pattern with regard to depression is unclear. Evidence on other mental health disorders, including those associated with substance use, mild cognitive impairment, psychotic syndromes, anxiety and somatoform disorders is much less abundant, making it difficult to come to conclusions. In addition, the lack of comparable data means that it is impossible so far to make judgements about differences in the prevalence rates of particular disorders across geographical and cultural boundaries.
Services for supporting family carers of older dependent people in Europe: characteristics, coverage and usage: the trans-European survey report
- Authors:
- EUROFAMCARE CONSORTIUM, (ed.)
- Publisher:
- EUROFAMCARE
- Publication year:
- 2006
- Pagination:
- 260p.
- Place of publication:
- Hamburg
A major concern of the EUROFAMCARE study is to analyse services for supporting family carers of older people in Europe. The needs and demands for services from the family carers perspective were obtained by face-to-face interviews with family carers at their home. The purpose of the Service Providers' Survey was to add the views of service providers to those of the family carers. The intention of further analysis is to describe possible differences in the views on service provision between those persons who receive help and those who offer it, i.e. completing the picture of two different views on help services and their existence, familiarity, availability, usage and acceptability. Furthermore the current and future perspectives on challenges concerning the services provided for carers of older people was conducted, to identify gaps in service provision and to show examples of good practice through the eyes of the providers.
Transition from work to retirement in EU25
- Authors:
- ZAIDI Ashgar, MAKOVEE Mattia, FUCHS Michael
- Publisher:
- London School of Economics. Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion
- Publication year:
- 2006
- Pagination:
- 35p.
- Place of publication:
- London
The policy agenda of extending working lives requires a holistic understanding of factors underlying the decision of older workers to withdraw from work and to retire. This brief paper presents employment patterns and trends of older people across EU Member States and identifies policy initiatives that would encourage more flexible and later retirement. The descriptive empirical evidence (from the EU Labour Force Survey) indicates that there are a broad range of experiences in EU countries with respect to the employment of older workers (those aged 50 and over). Strikingly, in the majority of EU15 countries, close to one-half of those of 50 and over are either unemployed or inactive, with reliance either on early retirement pensions or on social assistance benefits. The recent pension reforms in a number of these countries have increased the retirement age and this is likely to induce older workers to work longer. There is already some evidence that the effective retirement age is on the increase. Results suggest that the increase in older workers' employment is stronger for women than for men, and also for more highly educated. In most instances older workers either tend to be in full-time employment or inactive with very few occupying intermediate positions. Although there is some evidence of a gradual transition towards retirement, there is still a relatively minor proportion of the work force taking advantage of this, as well over 70% of men and around 55% of women in employment in their early 60s worked 35 hours a week or more. The policy aim should therefore be to encourage 'flexible and later retirement'. Additional incentives need to be provided so that people are not only able to move between jobs in later working life but also able to work part-time, without losing their entitlement to benefits (such as early retirement pensions). Such policy incentives will enable workers to avoid the phenomenon of a 'cliff-edge' fall into retirement that many of them often face.
Poverty of elderly people in EU25: first report: revised July 2006
- Authors:
- ZAIDI Ashgar, et al
- Publisher:
- European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research
- Publication year:
- 2006
- Pagination:
- 63p., tables
- Place of publication:
- Vienna
- Edition:
- Rev. ed.
These findings are that, in the early years of the 21st century, about 13 million elderly people are at risk of poverty in 25 EU member States, amounting to as many as one-in-six of all 74 million elderly people living in EU. Cyprus, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Greece and the United Kingdom are identified as the countries with the highest poverty risk for the elderly population. The new member States are largely countries with the lowest risk of elderly poverty. In 14 out of all 25 member countries the elderly populations are more often at risk of being poor in comparison to working-age populations. The relative risk of elderly poverty is particularly high in Cyprus, Ireland and Slovenia. Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia, the Netherlands and Luxembourg are at the other end of the spectrum, where the elderly are better protected against the risk of poverty than the working-age individuals. In the majority of countries, the poverty risk is clearly higher for female elderly - more so in EU15 than in the new member countries. In general, it can be seen that females aged 75 and over show the highest at-risk-of-poverty rates.
The support of parents in old age by those born during 1945–1954: a European perspective
- Authors:
- OGG Jim, RENAUT Sylvie
- Journal article citation:
- Ageing and Society, 26(5), September 2006, pp.723-743.
- Publisher:
- Cambridge University Press
In 2004 in Europe, more than two-thirds of those born during 1945–54 had a parent or parent-in-law alive, and the rates of co-residence with their ascendants ranged from less than four per cent in Sweden, Denmark and The Netherlands, to between 17 and 24 per cent in Italy, Spain and Greece. The proportions that had provided practical help to their parents during the previous 12 months had a north-south gradient, from approximately one-in-three in the northern countries to 15 per cent or less in the southern countries. In contrast, the proportions of the helpers that provided regular and almost daily help had an inverse pattern, being low in Sweden and Denmark and much higher in the south. Some of these differences may be attributable to variations among the countries in the interpretation of ‘help’. Help to elderly parents tends to be most associated with the gender of givers and receivers, the living arrangements, geographical proximity and needs of the parents, and the availability of adult children who can help. There is little evidence of a specific ‘baby-boomer generation’ effect on the probability of giving help.
Managing effective partnerships in older people's services
- Author:
- NILES Henk
- Journal article citation:
- Health and Social Care in the Community, 14(5), September 2006, pp.391-399.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
The integration of older people's services is a challenge to all countries with an ageing population. Although it is widely acknowledged that acute care, long-term care, social care, housing, leisure, education and other services should all operate in a more 'joined-up manner', achieving this in practice remains extremely difficult. Against this background, the European Union (EU) Care and Management of Services for Older People in Europe Network (CARMEN) project set out to explore the management of integrated care in 11 EU countries. Summarising key themes from the project, this paper explores the management of integrated care, the skills required, the mechanisms which aid successful integrated approaches, and future research priorities. Although very challenging, the concept of integrated care is still a promising way forward when seeking to meet the challenges of an ageing society.
Proposal of a service delivery integration index of home care for older persons: application in several European cities
- Authors:
- SORBYE Liv Wergeland, et al
- Journal article citation:
- International Journal of Integrated Care, 6(3), 2006, Online only
- Publisher:
- International Foundation for Integrated Care
The aim of this study was to propose an integration index of home care delivery to older persons, to study its validity and to apply it to home care services of 11 European cities. For the study home care delivery integration was based on two dimensions referring to process-centred integration and organisational structure approach. Items considered as part of both dimensions according to an expert consensus (face validity) were extracted from a standardised questionnaire used in “Aged in Home care” (AdHoc) study to capture basic characteristics of home care services. Their summation leads to a services' delivery integration index. This index was applied to AdHoc services. A factor analysis was computed in order to empirically test the validity of the theoretical constructs. The plot of the settings was performed. Application of the index ranks home care services in four groups according to their score. Factor analysis identifies a first factor which opposes working arrangement within service to organisational structure bringing together provisions for social care. A second factor corresponds to basic nursing care and therapies. Internal consistency for those three domains ranges from 0.78 to 0.93. When plotting the different settings different models of service delivery appear. It is concluded that the proposed index shows that behind a total score several models of care delivery are hidden. Comparison of service delivery integration should take into account this heterogeneity.
Older people 'on the edge' in the countrysides of Europe
- Author:
- GIARCHI George Giacinto
- Journal article citation:
- Social Policy and Administration, 40(6), December 2006, pp.705-721.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Relatively few comparative studies have focused specifically upon the socio-economic conditions affecting the welfare of older rural Europeans. Such publications as exist are usually confined to single studies. In presenting a European overview of their 'life-world' this paper focuses upon the general conditions of older rural Europeans, living in different types of countryside within a centre–periphery framework. These conditions are largely dependent upon the interconnectivity (nexus) between regional urban centres and the older people's types of settlement. The extent of the global socio-economic flows between urban centres and countrysides is critical, especially for those living in less accessible and remote European areas. Older people's positive and negative outcomes are seen to occur within four possible urban–rural parameters. The first consists of two-way socio-economic urban–rural flows that are more likely to be of benefit to significant numbers of older persons, especially in urban fringe and accessible countrysides. The second parameter arises when there is a long-standing impasse, where the lack of communication between the rural locality and urban centre hampers socio-economic urban–rural flows, isolating older people, particularly in less accessible and remote countrysides. The third occurs when regional and local urban centres block or cut back socio-economic flows to the countryside. The fourth takes place when the rural communities resist socio-economic urban flows that they regard as a threat to their rural idyll. Exemplars within each of the four urban–rural alternatives help to show the applicability and workability of this four-way exploratory approach.
Pension policy in EU25 and its possible impact on elderly poverty: second report: revised July 2006
- Authors:
- ZAIDID Ashgar, MARIN Bernd, FUCHS Michael
- Publisher:
- European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research
- Publication year:
- 2006
- Pagination:
- 109p.
- Place of publication:
- Vienna
- Edition:
- Rev. ed.
This report provides insights into how pension reforms may impact on retirement incomes and risk of poverty among future pensioners. One common trend is that the generosity of pension benefits drawn from the public pension systems is on the decline. Moreover, reforms have changed in most instances the nature of pension provision from defined-benefit type provision to defined-contribution type provision. In general, this type of change shifts more pension risks towards the generation of current working age individuals, and also results in a more restrictive possibilities of redistribution to lower income individuals. In turn, it is likely that more and more pensioners will fall back on the means-tested social assistance benefits (where available) or else experience poverty.