Long-Term Care Planning by Informal Helpers: Likelihood of Shared Households and Institutional Placement

Abstract

I examine informal helpers' expectations surrounding possible strategies for meeting long-term care needs. Data were gathered through personal interviews with a linear probability sample of community-based elderly and their informal helpers. I used discriminant analysis to assess the impact of caregiving demands, assistance the elder person provided, anticipated difficulties in shared households, competing demands on caregiver's time, and relationship to the elder on the anticipated likelihoods of selecting shared households or institutional placements among 255 informal helpers who would be involved in long-term care decisions. Assistance the older person provided to the helper increased the anticipated likelihood of shared households and decreased that of institutional placements.