Title
Is family care on the decline? A longitudinal investigation of the substitution of formal long-term care services for informal care
UMMS Affiliation
Institute for Studies on Aging
Publication Date
1993
Document Type
Article
Subjects
Aged; *Caregivers; *Family; Female; Forecasting; *Frail Elderly; Health Policy; Health Services Needs and Demand; Health Services Research; Home Care Services; Home Nursing; Humans; Institutionalization; Long-Term Care; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Massachusetts; Social Change
Disciplines
Life Sciences | Medicine and Health Sciences | Women's Studies
Abstract
The focus on rising costs of long-term care now encompasses community as well as institutional care. Policy makers cite the potential impact of changing social trends on informal caregivers' availability to continue as the main source of care and the possibility that formal services will then replace this informal care. They fear that families will relinquish their caregiving role if publicly funded home care services are available. Longitudinal data from a sample of disabled elders were used to investigate the substitution of formal services for informal care over a seven-year period. The substitution that was detected could be traced to the limited availability of informal care, and it represented a temporary change in the informal care pattern rather than a permanent replacement for it. Instead, use of formal services has supported the elderly person's continued residence in the community.
Source
Milbank Q. 1993;71(4):601-24.
Journal/Book/Conference Title
The Milbank quarterly
Related Resources
PubMed ID
8246850
Repository Citation
Tennstedt, S L; Crawford, Sybil L.; and McKinlay, John B., "Is family care on the decline? A longitudinal investigation of the substitution of formal long-term care services for informal care" (1993). Women’s Health Research Faculty Publications. 66.
https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/wfc_pp/66
