Formal home care use and spousal health outcomes

Judite Gonçalves, Francisco von Hafe and Luís Filipe

Social Science & Medicine, 2021, vol. 287, issue C

Abstract: This study explores the relationship between formal home care provided by paid professionals and spousal health outcomes. We use data from the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe, a panel of older adults living in several European countries. We match new formal home care users to non-users to eliminate baseline (t−1) differences between couples who decide to seek formal home care in t and those who do not. After considering several potentially confounding changes between baseline and t, and looking closer at specific subgroups, we conclude that in the short run, use of formal home care is unlikely to affect spousal physical or mental health.

Keywords: Formal home care; Informal care; Caregiver burden; Spouse caregivers; Health index; Health shocks; Statistical matching (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C29 D19 I19 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:socmed:v:287:y:2021:i:c:s027795362100705x

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DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.114373

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