A Systematic Literature Review of Long-Term Care Service Use and Quality of Life Among Korean Elderly

As the numbers of elderly people are rapidly increasing, long-term care insurance, introduced to elevating the quality of life of the elderly and relieve the burden of their families’ support, has been in existence for 15 years. The purpose of this study was to build a theoretical foundation for elevating the quality of life of the elderly, by systematically synthesizing empirical studies on the quality of life of the elderly using long-term care services. In this study, 1,797 documents were searched by combining keywords such as and in three web databases of KCI, RISS, and e-articles published July 1, 2008-April 1, 2022. The final 30 documents were selected and analyzed, by applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria to the literature. As a result, first, it was feasible to categorize variables related to long-term care services into three factors (institutional, service, and individual factors). Second, it was confirmed that the quality of life of the elderly was directly or indirectly impacted by service satisfaction, as well as individual factors, in addition to institutional factors. Third, it was found that the quality of life of the elderly was significantly related to demographic characteristics as well as physical function, subjective health status, emotional/ psychological, and social function. Based on the results, practical and policy recommendations and follow-up research directions are suggested, to improve the quality of life of the elderly using long-term care services.