Outpatient Care Service: Predictors Of Current And Future Use Of Outpatient Care Service By Family Members Providing Informal Care To Elderly Persons In Long-Term Home Care

Abstract

In Germany, people in need of care are usually cared for at home by their informal caregivers. The outpatient care service represents a central pillar in the home care of people in need of care. The aim of this article was to analyse the factors influencing the current as well the future use of outpatient care service. With the cross-sectional study Benefits of Being a Caregiver (October 2019 - March 2020) overall 958 family caregivers of elderly people in need of care from Bavaria were interviewed. In addition to the characteristics of the caregivers and those in need of care, information on the care situation as well as the current and desired future use of outpatient care service were collected. Two binary logistic regression analyses were carried out to determine the predictors of the use. The outpatient care service was used by 368 (38%) care giving relatives or those in need of care currently or recently. 236 family caregivers (40% of current non-users) stated that they would like to use an outpatient care service in the future. As predictors for the current use, the relationship non-partner, a higher care level of the persons in need of care and the perception of caregivers of not being able to manage care-giving were determined. Predisposing factors for the desired future use were the desire for current informal help and a lower care level. Family caregivers using the outpatient care service state that they are less able to cope with home care. Therefore, this service should focus its counselling on the empowerment of the caregivers. Moreover, the users are predominantly employed daughters or daughters-in-law who live in separate households. Therefore, the reliability of the offer is a basic condition for being able to maintain home care. In the future, a considerable increase in the number of informal care givers wishing to use outpatient care services is to be expected. Efforts should therefore be made to enlarge the range of services.