Approaches to Care
Informal Caregiving as a Touchstone of Family Bonds View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Jiri Remr
Providing informal care to senior member of the family is in many cases challenging the overall family atmosphere, the bonds among family members, and the intergenerational relationships. Besides its positive effects on seniors who can stay within their natural physical and social environment, informal caregiving might impose an increased stress on informal caregivers, reduce their social life and decrease the quality of life. Population aging poses in increased demand for sustainable arrangements. Findings that will be presented are based on data from quantitative research that was conducted on a representative sample of informal caregivers in Czechia (n=1.034). The paper informs about the quality of life as it was perceived by the informal caregivers - standardized instrument CQoL was used in this respect. Moreover, the paper evaluates the key dimensions of perceived quality of life and identifies the most significant drivers including a structure of the families, emotional bonds among family members or caregivers´ fears. The paper may be appreciated for advancing the knowledge about the family structure, relationships, and responsibilities. It provides replicable insight into the needs and abilities of a growing segment of population, and seeks for the measures to reduce the burden, improve the involvement of old-aged, and assure dignity in older age.
The Role of Financial Conditions for Health and Daily Life Functioning of Middle-aged and Older Adults: Evidence from Panel Data View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Dorota Weziak-Bialowolska
Financial security has been shown to play a protective role for emotional well-being. However, little has been known about the protective role of sufficient financial resources in mitigating the risks of negative outcomes in mental health and daily life functioning. Using longitudinal survey data collected between 2000 and 2019 and retrieved from the SHARE database, we examined the role of sufficient financial resources, including different types of savings, for protecting against depression, loneliness, and a decline in the daily life functioning. Multivariate proportional hazards model with time-varying covariates as well as the cross-lagged panel model were applied. E-values were calculated to examine sensitivity of associations to unmeasured confounding and a series of secondary analyses provided evidence on robustness of the results. We found that having moderate financial assets is associated with a 10% reduction in the risk of depression over a two-year period and even higher reduction in the risk of limitations in daily life functioning and experiencing loneliness. Possessing savings equal to at least semi-annual incomes is associated with a 25% reduction in limitations in daily life functioning. Short-term savings are shown to be prospectively associated with all measured outcomes with particularly large effect for daily life functioning. Long-term savings are not found to be protective against depression but, particularly when high, they are associated with reduced risk of loneliness and limitations in daily life functioning. The effects of financial conditions on subsequent health and of health on subsequent financial conditions are presented.
The Impact of COVID-19 in Europe: Residential Care for the Elderly, Employment Conditions, and Care Regimes in a Comparative Perspective
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Marco Arlotti
The residential care sector for the elderly has been dramatically hit by the pandemic crisis in Europe, particularly during its first wave. High levels of deaths among the elderly have been coupled with the existence of problematic conditions for care workers. Such conditions traditionally affect the residential care sector. Indeed, high turnover, low wages, and limited professional standards are largely predominant in this sector. However, important differences also exist across European countries, shaped by structural factors as the main characteristics of national care regimes. Against this background, the paper explores the configuration of relations between the effects of the pandemic on the residential care sector, the main features of employment conditions, and the predominant characteristics of national care regimes in a comparative perspective. The research considers seven European countries (Sweden, Denmark, United-Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain). Quantitative data from Eurostat and Oecd online databases are analyzed, by considering several indicators. Preliminary results show the existence of specific national clusters, but also the fact that a common configuration of relations between the dimensions analyzed seems not to emerge homogenously across countries. In this sense, a more in-depth analysis of the trajectories of development of the residential care system in each country, as well as the consideration of other potential explanatory factors may represent important dimensions to be considered for further analysis.
