Rf. Boaz et Jx. Hu, DETERMINING THE AMOUNT OF HELP USED BY DISABLED ELDERLY PERSONS AT HOME - THE ROLE OF COPING RESOURCES, The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences, 52(6), 1997, pp. 317-324
The purpose of this study is to quantify the effects of coping resourc
es on the amount (hours) of help used By disabled elderly persons in t
heir home. The findings are Based on the 1989 National Long-Term Care
Survey. The distribution of help-hours is very skewed mirroring the sk
ewness of limitations in physical and cognitive functioning. Controlli
ng for these limitations, the most important coping resources are the
combinations of helpers who join forces, and coresidence with a helper
. The effect of helpers' networks is large and consistent across marit
al status and living arrangements. The networks are mole extensive for
married than for unmarried persons., bl reference to persons,oho rely
only on nonrelatives: (a) a network of a spouse and children enables
a married person to have 40 additional weekly hours of help, (b) a net
work of children and others enables an unmarried person to have 29 add
itional help-hours per week if he/she coresides with other adults and
10 additional weekly help-hours if he/she does not. The issue of conce
rn for public policy is whether such family networks will be preserved
and if not, how to obtain the funds for the alternative of sufficient
paid help in the community.