Analysis of elderly individuals who move from a depopulated area and require nursing care and support

Abstract

To verify if elderly individuals care can live in familiar places, the authors study cases elderly individuals needing nursing care and moving away from their areas. A depopulated area where low birthrate and aging is preceding was selected for the study. Participants were elderly individuals who received "certification of need" and moved away from their areas in the five years since April, 2008. We collected the participants' characteristics, degrees of needing care, utilization of care service, and where they moved to. Further, we performed a hearing survey for a home care support center to determine the status of caregivers and care before moving, where they moved to, and how and why they moved, and we analyzed the reasons. Further, we discovered where they lived and their care service as of the end of August, 2013, and analyzed how they lived after moving. The number of elderly individuals in need of care with "certification of need" who moved out of the town was 74. The percentage of later-stage elderly individuals was 89.2%, and 70.3% of them were women. One-person households were the most common with 47.3%, and small families with less than two family members made up over 70%. Main caregivers before moving out were family members or relatives living with them (35.1%), those not living with them (10.8%), and helpers or care staff members (33.8%). The percentage of elderly individuals who utilized ambulatory and attendant care services before moving out was 79.7%. The service use was high for ambulatory and attendant care. Those who moved to live in facilities out of town made up 73.0%. The result revealed that 58.1% of elderly individuals who moved lived in special elderly nursing homes out of town as of the end of August, 2013. Over 70% of the elderly individuals who moved are from small families having less than two family members. Therefore, the fact that they have care limitations serves as the background for their moving; 79.7% of the elderly individuals who moved utilized ambulatory and attendant care. Further, we found that 75.7% of them moved to nursing facilities, and those who lived in nursing facilities moved to special elderly nursing homes out of town and were away from Town A.