Abstract
BackgroundWe see a growing number of older adults receiving long-term care in industrialized countries. The Healthcare Utilization Model by Andersen suggests that individual need characteristics influence utilization. The purpose of this study is to analyze correlations between need characteristics and service utilization in home care arrangements.Methods1,152 respondents answered the questionnaire regarding their integration of services in their current and future care arrangements. Care recipients with high long-term care needs answered the questionnaire on their own, the family caregiver assisted the care recipient in answering the questions, or the family caregiver responded to the questionnaire on behalf of the care recipient. They were asked to rank specific needs according to their situation. We used descriptive statistics and regression analysis.ResultsRespondents are widely informed about services. Nursing services and counseling are the most used services. Short-term care and guidance and training have a high potential for future use. Day care, self-help groups, and mobile services were the most frequently rejected services in our survey. Women use more services than men and with rising age utilization increases. Long waiting times and bad health of the primary caregiver increases the chance of integrating services into the home care arrangements.ConclusionThe primary family caregiver has a high impact on service utilization. This indicates that the whole family should be approached when offering services. Professionals should react upon the specific needs of care dependents and their families.
Highlights
We see a growing number of older adults receiving long-term care in industrialized countries
In this paper we focus on people with high-level care needs in long-term home care arrangements, and analyze which factors of emotional strains as well as other need characteristics increase utilization
In our survey that was initiated in spring 2012 we focused on home care arrangements of people with severe care needs who fell in the care-level II category, which by definition is more than 180 minutes of daily support and assistance were included in the study
Summary
We see a growing number of older adults receiving long-term care in industrialized countries. The purpose of this study is to analyze correlations between need characteristics and service utilization in home care arrangements. The number of persons being 80 years and older is increasing faster than any other segment of the population in all EU Member States. A person is eligible to receive long-term care benefits if he or she is unable to perform regular activities of daily living in the areas of personal hygiene, nutrition, or mobility due to physical or mental impairment [6]. As the individual’s condition worsens and the time to provide tasks by the caregiver increases, the level of care rises and the benefits the care recipients get act correspondingly [7]
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