Unmet long‐term care needs and depression: the double disadvantage of community‐dwelling older people in rural China

Hu, Bo and Wang, Jing (2018) Unmet long‐term care needs and depression: the double disadvantage of community‐dwelling older people in rural China. Health and Social Care in the Community. ISSN 0966-0410

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Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between unmet long‐term care needs and depressive symptoms among community‐dwelling older people in China. The data come from a nationally representative sample of 1,324 disabled older people from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Survey (CHARLS) collected between 2013 and 2014. Regression analyses were conducted to examine the factors associated with unmet needs and the impacts of unmet needs on people’s depressive symptoms. We found that disabled older people living in rural communities have a higher level of unmet needs than those in urban communities. Unmet needs cause more severe depressive symptoms among rural older people, but they do not have a significant impact among urban older people. Depressive symptoms are also affected by people’s health conditions in rural China and by household income in urban China. We argue that older people living in rural communities face a double disadvantage. The first disadvantage relating to unmet needs reinforces the second one relating to mental health. These findings highlight the urgent need for more investment by the Chinese central government in formal social care services and support for carers in rural areas.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/13652524
Additional Information:	© 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Divisions:	Personal Social Services Research Unit
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform R Medicine > RC Internal medicine > RC0321 Neuroscience. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry
Date Deposited:	23 Aug 2018 11:29
Last Modified:	29 Mar 2024 02:48
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/90090

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