Doblhammer / Scholz Ageing, Care Need and Quality of Life

The Perspective of Care Givers and People in Need of Care
1. Auflage 2010
ISBN: 978-3-531-92335-2
Verlag: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 243 Seiten, Web PDF

Reihe: Social Sciences (R0)

Increasing life expectancy and population ageing leads to a rising number of elderly people in need of care. Improvements in health may counterbalance this trend to some extent but cannot fully compensate it. In this proceedings, Gabriele Doblhammer and Rembrandt Scholz present combined expertise in the field of health, care need and care resources. Various care need projections based on diverse projection methods give a detailed overview on probable future developments of the number of people in need of care, mainly for Germany. A special emphasis is put on the future number of people with dementia in Germany. Next to that the authors explore past trends in health and care need in relation to increases in life expectancy and discuss the effects of sex, smoking, obesity, and other determinants that influence health and care need in older ages. The trends in health and care need are additionally viewed in relation to trends in the number of care need providers and their quality of life.
This book is a valuable reference for academics in the social sciences, especially those with a focus on health care and demography and for practitioners in the field of health care.

Zielgruppe

Professional/practitioner

Autoren/Hrsg.

Doblhammer, Gabriele

Scholz, Rembrandt

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Projections of Care Need and Care Resources.- People in Need of Long-term Care: The Present and the Future.- Care Need Projections for Germany until 2050.- Care Need Projections by Marital Status and Childlessness for Germany 2000-2030 based on the FELICIE Project.- Projection of Care Need and Family Resources in Germany.- Cohort Trends in Disability and Future Care Need in Germany.- Projections of the Number of People with Dementia in Germany 2002 Through 2047.- Health Factors and Care Determinants.- The Effect of Sex, Obesity and Smoking on Health Transitions: A Statistical Meta-analysis.- Demand for Long-term Residential Care and Acute Health Care by Older People in the Context of the Ageing Population of Finland.- Old Age, the Need of Long-term Care and Healthy Life Expectancy.- Trends in Individual Trajectories of Health Limitations: A Study based on the German Socio-Economic Panel for the Periods 1984 to 1987 and 1995 to 1998.- Care Givers.- Perceived Care Giver Burden of Spouses and Children in Flanders: Who’s Feeling more Burdened and Why?.- Voluntary Care Giving in the Life Course of Women in Eastern and Western Germany.

Leseproben

Part III: Care Givers (S. 203-205)

Perceived Care Giver Burden of Spouses and Children in Flanders: Who’s Feeling more Burdened and Why?

Benedicte De Koker

1. Introduction

The ageing of the population, in combination with other societal evolutions such as the increasing labour market participation of women and the shift towards care ‘in the community’, has led to a growing awareness of the care provided by spouses, relatives, neighbours and friends. It is now widely recognised that informal care constitutes the majority of all care given to elderly people, and that preservation of the informal care capacity is of paramount importance. In accordance with this perspective, scientists as well as policy makers have shown an increasing concern about the well-being of informal carers (Döhner/Kofahl 2005, Kröger 2001, Walker et al. 1995).

Since the 1980’s a bulk of studies have been carried out on the outcomes of informal care giving (Walker et al. 1995). From this research it emerged that giving care to a loved person who is ill or disabled may generate a considerable amount of strain and burden (Braithwaite 1992, Walker et al. 1995). Compared to persons not involved in care giving or population norms, informal carers are reporting more depressive symptoms and higher levels of distress and anxiety (Hirst 2003, Marks et al. 2002, Schulz et al. 1995). While results with regard to physical well-being are less univocal (Hirst 2004, Taylor et al. 1995), a number of studies have found that informal carers tend to have a lower immunity, more physical health complaints and even a higher mortality risk (Schulz/Beach 1999, Vitaliano et al. 2003).

Moreover, evidence exists that care giving is associated with other negative outcomes, like a higher risk of social isolation (Fast et al. 1999, George/Gwyther 1986) and a less favourable financial situation (Fast et al. 1999, Heitmueller/Inglis 2007). The concept of “care giver burden” plays an important role in understanding the outcomes of informal care giving. Although various definitions are apparent in the literature (Braithwaite 1992), the concept generally refers to the care givers’ perception of the impact care giving has on their lives (Stuckey et al. 1996). Because it is based on a personal perception, it is sometimes also referred to as perceived care burden or subjective care burden.

Care giver burden has proved useful in order to understand variation within care giving populations and as a predictor of carerelated outcomes such as the (desire for) institutionalisation of the person in need of care (Stuckey et al. 1996, Stull et al. 1994). Moreover, care giver burden has turned out to be a predictor of the general (psychological) well-being of the care giver (Braithwaite 1996, Chappell/Reid 2002, Lawton et al. 1991, Yates et al. 1999).

Über Autor(innen)

Prof. Dr. Gabriele Doblhammer is Professor for Empirical Social Science and Demography at the University of Rostock and Director of the Rostock Center for the Study of Demographic Change.
Dr. Rembrandt Scholz is Research Scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock.