Sammanfattning
Background: Even if older people in the Nordic countries
living in their homes usually have good access to formal
help, the family plays an important role. Few studies
have looked at the distribution of informal and formal
care and the interplay between these spheres. The aim of
this study is to shed light on the distribution of care and
to analyse the patterns of care depending on the degree
of limitations, the gender of the recipient and whether
she/he is cohabitating or not.
Method and sample: The Icelandic survey ‘Icelandic Older
People’ (ICEOLD) is a random nationally representative
survey among persons 65+ living in their homes. Of
those who participated (n = 782), 341 were men and 441
were women, giving a response rate of 66%.
Findings: About 60% of the people investigated in the
survey had limitations with instrumental activities of
daily living (IADL), and 10% of people had limitations
with personal activities of daily living (PADL). The
majority of the respondents with IADL or PADL limitations
received either informal or formal help, but not
both. When the IADL limitations increase, the informal
care increases for men, but not for women, and the formal
care increases for women, but decreases for men.
Cohabiting men are much likelier to receive informal
IADL help and less likely to receive formal help than
men not cohabiting. Among women, corresponding
differences are much smaller and not significant. When
there is no spouse, the daughters help more than the
sons and they help their mothers more than they help
their fathers.
Conclusion: More persons receive informal care than
formal care, which shows the importance of the family.
There is a gender difference in receiving care. Cohabitation
is important for receiving informal care, especially for men. Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons.