Utilization of Public Long-Term Care Services and Burden Alleviation of Service Recipients and Their Families: Home Care and Institutional Care for Older Adults in South Korea

Abstract

South Korea launched national long-term care insurance in 2008, and about one in ten older adults currently receives public long-term care (LTC) services. However, little research using nationally representative data has examined the factors related to LTC services and burden alleviation. Using Andersen’s health service utilization model, this study aims to explore the factors associated with the utilization of LTC services (i.e., home care services and institutional care services) in South Korea. Further, the alleviation of the burden (i.e., emotional, financial, and physical) among the service recipients and their family members are studied. We performed logistic regressions using national data: the 2019 Long-Term Care Survey (N=3,601). The results showed that living in urban areas and having fewer mobility limitations were associated with higher emotional and physical burden alleviation of home care service users. Moreover, living in urban and having longer geographic distances from the families were associated with more elevated financial burden alleviation. In terms of institutional care services, when the service recipient had fewer children, more chronic diseases, and lived in urban areas, the financial burden alleviation was higher. Based on the findings, we discussed the policy implications of the factors related to service utilization which varied by service and burden types.