How Work Pattern Transformation May Affect the Mental Health of Older Workers Faced With Unmet Health Care Needs During the Pandemic? A Comparative Investigation of Different Work Models

Abstract

Purpose This study compares the relation between unmet health care needs and mental health of older people with different work patterns. Methods This study uses data of Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe Corona survey (n = 51,632 to 51,731). Results The unmet health care need results in depression/sadness during the pandemic (0.304, P < 0.01). Besides, such problem is more salient in workers than the nonemployed population (0.066, P < 0.01 for workers; 0.058, P < 0.01 for the nonemployed) and more outstanding in those working on site and with hybrid work model compared with the telecommuters (0.264, P < 0.01 for telecommuters; 0.378, P < 0.01 for on-site workers; 0.437, P < 0.01 for hybrid work model). Conclusions Policymakers should focus on mental health of older people especially for those fully or partially involved in on-site work, when common health care need can be crowded out for limited health care resources during the pandemic.