2018 Volume 21 Issue 2 Pages 76-85
Synopsis: The purpose of this study is to examine factors related with demands for long-term care services for elderly parents among middle-aged people. Two factors which have been ignored in previous studies were included as possible related factors: family norms and awareness of long term care services. Participants were obtained from people aged 45-59 years old living in Xuzhou city, China, who were taking care of their elderly parents. They were recruited through personal networks of the researchers. A self- administrated survey was conducted for 320 candidates of participants. The number of effective participants for the analysis was 154. Demands of long-term care services were categorized by three types; “only care by family”, “care by family and community services”, and “only care by services (only care by community service and nursing-home admission)”. In addition to the factors described before, possible related factors included psychological factors, such as knowledge of community services, needs for long- term care, and socioeconomic status. Multinomial logistic regression analysis was used by using “only care by family” as the reference category. Higher negative feeling for the long-term care services was significantly related to lower demands of “care by family and community services”. More knowledge of the long-term care services was significantly related to higher demands for “care of family and community services”. Children with higher number of disabled elderly parents were more likely to have higher demands of “care by community services”. Children with 30min-1h distance from living place of disabled elderly parents were more likely to have higher demands of “care by family and community services” than those living with parents or within less than 30min distance.
