Singaporeans' perceptions of and attitudes toward long-term care services.

Abstract

Use of long-term care (LTC) services among older adults in Asia has emerged as an important issue in light of rapidly aging countries and changing family structures. Simply building more LTC facilities will not result in higher usage rates, and more insight is needed on the usage of existing services. Few studies have been conducted among Asian populations outside Western settings on this topic. The multi-ethnic population in Singapore is useful for understanding the factors influencing the use of long-term care services in Asia. We present our qualitative findings on long-term care service usage in the older population (50+ years) over time. We highlight caregivers' needs as an important determinant of LTC use. Although preferences of the care recipients were considered, caregiver needs, the availability of formal and informal care support, attitudes, perceived control, and social norms surrounding family caregiving governed the use of formal LTC services in Singapore.