THE DISABLED ELDERLY LIVING IN THE COMMUNITY - CARE RECEIVED FROM FAMILY AND FORMAL SERVICES

Objectives: Based on a community sample, to assess the reasons disable d elderly people need care, the type of formal services they receive, the characteristics of their carers and the degree of psychological mo rbidity in these carers.Design and setting: A community survey of peop le aged 70 or more years living in Canberra or Queanbeyan. Survey part icipants were asked to nominate informants, who were interviewed about the subjects' state of health. The informants provided information on need for care, services received and the role of carers. Informants a lso reported on their own health, including symptoms of anxiety and de pression. Results: Elderly people needed care because of physical disa bility more often than behavioural disability. Those with physical dis ability received more formal services and more help from health profes sionals than those with behavioural disability. Contact with general p ractitioners was high for both disabled and non-disabled subjects. Car ers of the physically disabled had raised levels of anxiety and sympto ms of depression, and poorer self-rated health, but carers of the beha viourally disabled did not. Wives, daughters and husbands made up the biggest categories of carers and around two-thirds of carers were wome n. Conclusion: Family carers play an important role in maintaining dis abled elderly people in the community and this role is often stressful . Formal services have to be aimed as much at the needs of the carers as at the disabled people themselves.