We investigate the determinants of several LTC services and unmet need using data from a representative sample of the non-institutionalised disabled population in Spain in 2008. We measure the level of horizontal inequity and compare results using self-reported versus a more objective indicator of unmet needs. Evidence suggests that after controlling for a wide set of need variables, there is n...

BACKGROUND Training care givers reduces their burden and improves psychosocial outcomes in care givers and patients at one year. However, the cost effectiveness of this approach has not been investigated. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the cost effectiveness of caregiver training by examining health and social care costs, informal care costs, and quality adjusted life years in care givers. DESIGN A ...

The goals of the study were to describe the clients of home care and their care providers; to determine the competencies required to provide their care; to determine the costs of the formal care providers per client diagnoses; and to determine the burden of care for a randomly selected sample of informal care providers. Forty-nine percent of the 773 clients who participated in the study were ag...

This paper argues that the interfaces between formal and informal care-giving are changing as a result of two current trends; the increased scope of home-based nursing care and the emphasis on participation both within nursing and in the wider health and social care arenas. These various changes are explored in relation to the provision of intensive and complex nursing care in the home. It will...

PURPOSE This paper reports on Canadian research that examined the cost effectiveness of home care for seniors as a substitute for long-term institutional services. DESIGN AND METHODS Two Canadian cities were included in the research: Victoria, British Columbia, and Winnipeg, Manitoba. The research computes the costs of formal care and informal care in both settings and ensures comparable grou...

BACKGROUND Caregivers deal with oral health care of the dependent elderly; however, this has a low priority among them, and their education in daily oral care is deficient. Therefore, studying the oral care practices as well as their oral health beliefs is important as these affect the quality of the oral care they perform. OBJECTIVE To compare formal and informal caregivers' oral care practi...

Informal caregiving is the most common form of long-term care provided in the United States, and with the projected rapid growth of older adults, informal caregiving will be even more critical in the foreseeable future. In the United States, slightly more than 20% of informal caregivers provide care for more than one care recipient, and 10% provide care for three or more care recipients. Caring...

The aim of the study was to investigate medical health care and informal care consumption among older people receiving public long-term care, and factors associated with medical health care consumption. 1958 persons aged 65 years and over were included. Data were collected from two registers, including demography, functional ability and received long-term, informal and medical health care. 35% ...

Many of us working in health and social care might not immediately understand the term 'ambient intel-ligence' (AmI). The 'intelligence' referred to in AmI is the microprocessor which is able to glean knowledge from the 'ambient' environment of the individual and respond accordingly. The environment in this case encompasses the social, psychological or physical circumstances of the individual a...

The central argument of this paper is that although the Canadian state remains committed to ensuring that veterans are provided with programs and services to meet their changing needs, the same cannot be said of the rest of Canada’s elderly population who have also made significant contributions to Canadian society. What is commonly termed the ‘crisis in elder care’ highlights the issue of resp...