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The importance of the size of the social network and residential proximity in the reception of informal care in the European Union
- Authors:
- RODRIGUEZ Mercedes, RECOVER M. Angeles Minguela, BALLESTA Jose A. Camacho
- Journal article citation:
- European Journal of Social Work, 21(5), 2018, pp.653-664.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
This paper explores which factors affect the reception of informal care among those dependent people aged 65 and over in Europe, starting from the so-called Behavioural Model of Health Service Use introduced by Andersen. The data employed are drawn from the fourth wave of the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement. The final sample consists of a total of 17,284 older dependent people of which 4529 (26.2%) received informal care. The main novelty is the incorporation of different characteristics of the social network of the individual (presence of children, size and residential proximity) among the factors that enable the reception of informal care. In particular the two latter aspects are combined in one sole indicator of distance to the social network. In addition to ‘traditional factors’ like age or degree of dependency, all the characteristics of the social network are found to influence the likelihood of receiving informal care. This reveals the need for taking into consideration the role played by social networks when governments design care programmes, especially in the current scenario of rising demand for care. (Publisher abstract)
Ageing and caregiving: theory, research and policy
- Editors:
- BIEGEL David E., BLUM Arthur
- Publisher:
- Sage
- Publication year:
- 1990
- Pagination:
- 294p., diags., bibliogs.
- Place of publication:
- Newbury Park, CA
Looks at trends and issues affecting the elderly and their carers in the United States. Includes chapters on care of the elderly in China and in Sweden.
Contrasting European policies for the care of the elderly
- Editors:
- JAMIESON Anne, ILLSLEY Raymond
- Publisher:
- Avebury
- Publication year:
- 1990
- Pagination:
- 199p., tables, bibliogs.
- Place of publication:
- London
Looks at Belgium, Denmark, France, Greece, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, and the UK. Part 1 examines the relationship between formal and informal care, Part 2 deals with care systems and care delivery problems. Includes chapter by Ian Sinclair, Peter Gorbach, Enid Levin and Jenny Williams: 'Community care and residential admissions: results from two empirical studies'.
Monetising the provision of informal long-term care by elderly people: estimates for European out-of-home caregivers based on the well-being valuation method
- Authors:
- SCHNEIDER Ulrike, KLEINDIENST Julia
- Journal article citation:
- Health and Social Care in the Community, 24(5), 2016, pp.e81-e91.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Providing informal care can be both a burden and a source of satisfaction. To understand the welfare effect on caregivers, we need an estimate of the ‘shadow value’ of informal care, an imputed value for the non-market activity. The study used data from the 2006–2007 Survey of Health Ageing and Retirement in Europe which offers the needed details on 29,471 individuals in Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Of these, 9768 are unpaid non-co-resident caregivers. To estimate net costs, researchers followed the subjective well-being valuation method, modelling respondents' life satisfaction as a product of informal care provision, income and personal characteristics, then expressing the relation between satisfaction and care as a monetary amount. The study estimates a positive net effect of providing mode rate amounts of informal care, equivalent to €93 for an hour of care/week provided by a caregiver at the median income. The net effect appears to turn negative for greater high care burdens (over 30 hours/week). Interestingly, the effects of differences in care situation are at least an order of magnitude larger. The study also finds that carers providing personal care are significantly more satisfied than those primarily giving help with housework, a difference equivalent to €811 a year at the median income. The article makes two unique contributions to knowledge. The first is its quantifying a net benefit to moderately time-intensive out-of-home caregivers. The second is its clear demonstration of the importance of heterogeneity of care burden on different subgroups. Care-giving context and specific activities matter greatly, pointing to the need for further work on targeting interventions at those caregivers most in need of them. (Edited publisher abstract)
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.
Modelling an entitlement to long-term care services for older people in Europe: projections for long-term care expenditure to 2050
- Authors:
- PICKARD Linda, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of European Social Policy, 17(1), February 2007, pp.33-48.
- Publisher:
- Sage
As the numbers of older people rise in Europe, the importance of long-term care services in terms of numbers of users and expenditures can be expected to grow. This article examines the implications for expenditure in four countries of a national entitlement to long-tem care services for all older people, based on assessed dependency. It is based on a European Commission-funded cross-national study, which makes projections to 2050 of long-term care expenditure in Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK. The policy option investigated is based on the German long-term care insurance scheme, which embodies the principle of an entitlement on uniform national criteria to long-term care benefits. The research models this key principle of the German system in the other three participating countries, with respect to home care services. The study finds that, if all moderately/severely dependent older people receive an entitlement to formal (in-kind) home care, the impact on expenditure could be considerable, but would vary greatly between countries. The impact on long-term care expenditure is found to be the least in Germany, where there is already an entitlement to benefits; and the greatest in Spain, where reliance on informal care is widespread. This article discusses the policy implications of these results.
The role of social networks in using home care by older people across Continental Europe
- Authors:
- FERNANDEZ-CARRO Celia, VLACHANTONI Athina
- Journal article citation:
- Health and Social Care in the Community, 27(4), 2019, pp.936-952.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Using a sample of 37,708 individuals aged 65 and over from Wave 6 of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), this study examines to what extent the characteristics of older people's social networks predict the use of three types of home care; formal, informal, or combined, exploring the cross‐European convergences and divergences. Binomial logistic regressions are conducted to compare four macro‐regions in continental Europe (northern countries: Denmark and Sweden; western countries: Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland, and Luxembourg; southern countries: Italy, Spain, Greece, and Portugal; and eastern countries: Poland, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Estonia, and Croatia). The structure, availability, and accessibility to the members of the social network are the major predictors of the receipt of informal care everywhere. Regional divergences are observed regarding to formal care, alone or combined with informal caregivers. (Edited publisher abstract)
Support networks of childless older people: informal and formal support in Europe
- Authors:
- DEINDL Christian, BRANDT Martina
- Journal article citation:
- Ageing and Society, 37(8), 2017, pp.1543-1567.
- Publisher:
- Cambridge University Press
Western societies are ageing rapidly. Today people do not only live longer, they also have fewer children. These developments exert considerable pressure on welfare states. Children have usually been the mainstay of old age support, especially when there is no partner. We thus face new challenges: On which support networks can a growing number of childless older people rely? (How) can the lack of children be compensated in the informal social network? What role does the state play and how is informal and formal support linked? Our comparative analyses of the support networks of childless elders are based on the first two waves of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe, including 14,394 people with (instrumental) activities of daily living limitations aged 50 and over from 12 European countries. On average, 10 per cent of older Europeans today have no children. Sporadic informal support for these elders is often taken over by the extended family, friends and neighbours, and thus the lack of children is compensated within the social network. Intense care tasks, however, are more likely provided by professional providers, especially in the case of childless older people. In countries with low social service provision, childless elders are therefore likely to experience a lack of (formal) support, especially when depending on vital care. (Publisher abstract)
Psychological well-being over time among informal caregivers caring for persons with dementia living at home
- Authors:
- LETHIN Connie, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Aging and Mental Health, 21(11), 2017, pp.1138-1146.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
Objectives: To investigate informal caregivers’ psychological well-being and predicted increase in psychological well-being, when caring for persons with dementia (PwDs) living at home, related to caregiver, PwD and formal care (FC) factors. Method: A cohort study at baseline and 3 months’ follow-up in eight European countries. Caregivers included (n = 1223) were caring for PwDs aged ≥ 65 years at home. Data on caregivers, PwDs and FC were collected using standardised instruments. Regression analysis of factors associated with caregiver psychological well-being at baseline and 3 months later was performed. Results: Factors associated with caregiver psychological well-being at baseline were positive experience of caregiving, low caregiver burden, high quality of life (QoL) for caregivers, male gender of PwD, high QoL of PwD, few neuropsychiatric symptoms and depressive symptoms for the PwD. At follow-up, caregivers with increased psychological well-being experienced of quality of care (QoC) higher and were more often using dementia specific service. Predicting factors for caregivers’ increased psychological well-being were less caregiver burden, positive experience of caregiving, less supervision of the PwD and higher caregiver QoL, if PwD were male, had higher QoL and less neuropsychiatric symptoms. Furthermore, higher QoC predicted increased caregivers’ psychological well-being. Conclusion: Informal caregiving for PwDs living at home is a complex task. The authors' study shows that caregivers’ psychological well-being was associated with, among other things, less caregiver burden and higher QoL. Professionals should be aware of PwD neuropsychiatric symptoms that might affect caregivers’ psychological well-being, and provide proper care and treatment for caregivers and PwDs. (Edited publisher abstract)
Differences and similarities in monetary benefits for informal care in old and new EU member states
- Authors:
- RIEDEL Monika, KRAUS Markus
- Journal article citation:
- International Journal of Social Welfare, 25(1), 2016, pp.7-17.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
This article presents an overview of the monetary benefits available in the context of long-term care provided by family or other informal carers in 11 old and 10 new EU member states. All but one country in our sample offer at least some monetary benefits that can be used to help finance informal care. Old EU member states tend to direct benefits to individuals in need of care, whereas new EU member states place more emphasis on benefits for carers. Among new EU member states, monetary benefits are less often means-tested and tend to be lower compared with benefits in old EU member states. Because social policies in many countries increasingly rely on monetary benefits rather than on benefits in kind and because the share of informal care in the overall provision of elderly care will scarcely decline, monetary benefit incentives for labour market participation need to be carefully monitored. (Publisher abstract)