Aging & Social Change: Ninth Interdisciplinary Conference

Abstract

Rapid ageing of Western societies is leading to an increasing demand for long-term care (LTC) services for the elderly, which stands out as a major challenge and risk, and calls for immediate action. The situation is even more critical in Southern and Eastern Europe where social norms towards filial responsibility for old parents are still strongly rooted and where informal care for the elderly prevails, as many of these countries are also facing depopulation and changes in the family structure and life-style (more single people, less children per family, higher divorce rates, increased migration, etc.). A close collaboration among all key stakeholders across all the sectors stands out as an imperative in meeting LTC needs, improving and sustaining service quality and reducing public costs. Such cooperation is increasingly becoming commonplace; nevertheless, it is facing multiple challenges. Research on inter-sectoral and organisational collaboration in LTC is thus divided in regards to its effectiveness and calls for strategies for its successful implementation. In this paper we offer a multi-level framework for key stakeholder collaboration in LTC organising and delivery. We develop this framework on the results of a mixed-method research conducted in Lithuania: a key stakeholder survey (N=280) and focus group discussions (eight discussions, 54 participants). Our framework includes a number of national, organisational, and individual level factors that are proposed as enablers of enhanced and sustained key stakeholder collaboration in LTC organising and delivery.