Is informal care sufficient to meet the long-term care needs of older people with disabilities in China? Evidence from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Survey
Is informal care sufficient to meet the long-term care needs of older people with disabilities in China? Evidence from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Survey
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DOI：
10.1017/s0144686x1900148x
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发表时间：
2019-11
影响因子：
2.5
通讯作者：
Wei Yang;S. Tan
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Wei Yang;S. Tan
摘要 快速的人口变化和社会经济变化引发了人们对非正式护理供应不足的担忧——非正式护理是中国老年人最常见的护理来源。未满足的长期护理需求继续增加，据信这会对健康造成许多不利影响。本研究利用 2015 年中国健康与养老追踪调查的数据，探讨了中国老年人的非正式护理服务与未满足的长期护理需求之间的关系。我们首先研究残疾老年人获得非正式护理的情况。然后我们分析较高强度的非正式护理是否会导致较低的未满足需求。我们的研究结果表明，大多数残疾老年人接受的护理强度较低，即每月少于 80 小时。此外，接受更高强度的非正式护理可以显着降低主要日常生活限制的工具性活动的残疾老年人未满足需求的可能性。我们的研究指出，非正式护理无法满足那些在日常生活中与多维困难作斗争的人们的需求。我们的研究结果强调，政府迫切需要支持正规的护理提供和交付系统，以支持中国的非正式护理人员和残疾老年人。
Abstract Rapid demographic shifts and socio-economic changes are fuelling concerns over the inadequate supply of informal care – the most common source of care-giving for older people in China. Unmet long-term care needs, which are believed to cause numerous adverse effects on health, continue to increase. Drawing data from the 2015 wave of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Survey, this study explores the relationship between informal care provision and unmet long-term care needs among older people in China. We first examine the availability of informal care among older people with disabilities. We then analyse whether a higher intensity of informal care leads to lower unmet needs. Our findings suggest that the majority of older people with disabilities receive a low intensity of care, i.e. less than 80 hours per month. Besides, a higher intensity of informal care received could significantly lower the probabilities of unmet needs for the disabled older adults who have mainly instrumental activities of daily living limitations. Our study points out that informal care cannot address the needs of those who are struggling with multi-dimensional difficulties in their daily living. Our findings highlight a pressing need for the government to buttress the formal care provision and delivery systems to support both informal care-givers and disabled older people in China.