Trends in informal and formal home help use among older adults with disabilities in Japan: From 1999 to 2017

Abstract

We examined trends and differences in home help (HH) use between 1999 and 2017 regarding living arrangements, gender, income and disability levels relating to the changes in Japan's long-term care policy. HH is the help provided for activities of daily living to older adults with disabilities. We classified it into four types: only informal, informal and formal, only formal and neither and measured perceived adequacy of HH received by participants. We used five waves of repeated cross-sectional data from 1999 to 2017 to examine trends using generalised estimation equations. The use of both informal and formal HH increased until 2006 and then gradually decreased but remained higher than in 1999. High perceived adequacy of HH received remained stable between 1999 and 2017. For participants living alone, the rate of using both informal and formal HH increased after 2002; high perceived adequacy of HH received increased until 2006, subsequently remaining steady.