Background and Objectives: Views on living arrangement from elderly and\ninformal caregivers are crucial to â??ageing in placeâ?. They might be related to\nthe experience in the use of elderly care services, which remains inconclusive\nin previous literature. This study aimed to explore the association of previous\nexperience in formal and informal long-term care services with views of both\nelderly and their informal caregivers on living arrangement. Research Design\nand Methods: This study adopted a cross-sectional design. Assessment\nrecords of Minimum Data Set-Home Care for community-dwelling elderly\nwho were eligible for subsidized long-term care services in Hong Kong from\n2004 to 2014 were made available. Multivariate logistic regression was applied\nto examine associations between both views on elderâ??s living arrangement\nfrom the elderly, caregivers and their previous informal caregiver support,\nand experience in formal care services. Results: 82,306 dyads of elderly and\ninformal caregivers were included in the analysis. The elderly with previous\nuse of home and community-based services (OR = 0.84, 95% CI 0.80 - 0.88)\nand informal caregivers (OR = 0.78, 95% CI 0.76 - 0.81) believed that the elderly\nshould live away from home. Temporal trends of fewer elderly and caregivers\nsupporting the idea of living away from home were also observed.\nDiscussion and Implications: The results highlighted the importance of informal\ncaregiverâ??s support and previous utilization of formal home and\ncommunity-based services. It was concluded that resources and information\nof community-based care have a significant association with views on living\nat home also proper support services and training of care for the elderly\nshould be made available to informal caregivers to reduce their burden.
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