Abstract
BackgroundIn this paper, we analyse the economic burden of elder care in the Czech Republic by assessing how family members of senior citizens engage in caregiving. To do this, we examined the time and cost associated with caregiving as a function of age, gender, and income of the caregiver.MethodsA questionnaire comprising 17 items was used to gather data from 155 informal caregivers whose seniors are affiliated with 200 registered home care agencies. Spearman rank correlation was adopted to analyse how caregivers’ income, age and gender influences the costs accrued and time spent in caring for elders. The expenses are divided into direct and indirect. Publicly available sources are used to establish expenses on treatment and medication, which cannot be determined by the questionnaire survey.ResultsResults show that around-the-clock care is the most common. Spouses of care recipients make up the highest number of caregivers, and women represent the largest portion of this group. Additionally, the more the time spent caring for an elder, the higher the cost associated with such care. The total annual burden of informal caregivers is determined by the sum of annual average indirect costs, amounting to € 36,888, and annual direct costs, amounting to € 2775, resulting in a total of € 39,663 per year.ConclusionCzech social policymakers should begin to consider better packages for caregivers in the form of incentives and other monetary benefits to improve living standards and care for ageing seniors.
Highlights
In this paper, we analyse the economic burden of elder care in the Czech Republic by assessing how family members of senior citizens engage in caregiving
For the sake of comprehensiveness, the findings are complemented by data from the Institute of Health Information and Statistics (IHIS), the Czech Statistical Office (CSO) and the General Health Insurance Company (GHI)
The focus and structure of the questionnaire items were partly based on the study “Economic valuation and determinants of informal care to people with Alzheimer’s disease” [19], which was performed in Spain and aimed to determine the monetary value of the work delivered by informal caregivers for patients with Alzheimer’s disease
Summary
We analyse the economic burden of elder care in the Czech Republic by assessing how family members of senior citizens engage in caregiving. According to Kageyma et al [6], the caregiver burden may be so heavy that the caregivers themselves may become chronically ill and eventually unable to continue providing care [7] This concerns spouse caregivers [8], who Maresova et al BMC Geriatrics (2020) 20:171 suffer from the prolonged stress of looking after their life partner who is losing self-sufficiency [9]. This already difficult situation is further aggravated when the patient suffers from early onset dementia, which is the most common diagnosis of older adults who are provided with informal care by their spouses. The children of the couple contribute to providing care for the ill parent [6]
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