Eldercare Policy Implications on the Time Use Patterns and Quality of Life of the Elderly and Elder Caregivers in Europe, UK, US, and Japan

ended

The demographic trends in the ageing population suggest that the elderly will represent a substantial proportion of the population in most industrialised societies within the next 50 years. These trends indicate that countries will have to face tough social welfare decisions to make regarding the development of further strategies on how to ensure safe and dignified ageing of its growing population of the elderly. Many countries introduce a variety of strategies in their policies of support and quality of life for their elderly. There is a range of long-term care policies as well as formal care provision services available in the industrialised countries. However, the efficacy and sustainability of these strategies remain unclear. This research will analyse the effects of different policies and elderly care strategies in the select European, North American, and East Asian countries, focusing on the UK, US, and Japan. Using sequence analysis, multiple correspondence analysis, and multilevel models with access to supercomputer facilities at the University of Oxford, I plan to define the main typologies arising in the different countries, the effects of long-term care policy interventions and formal care services in these countries, and the demographic and resource-based antecedents of why such patterns and typologies arise. I will also analyse the strain in paid and unpaid work among elder caregivers as the result of different policy trajectories, as well as the effects on gender equality of the political choices. I have access to 6 different datasets to analyse for this project: ELSA (UK), UKTUS (UK), HRS (USA), ATUS (US), SHARE (Europe), and MTUS (Europe). The project will result in at least two peer-reviewed journal articles, two reports published as discussion papers, and four conference presentations.