Impact of the Outbreak of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Formal and Informal Care of Community-Dwelling Older Adults: Cross-National Clustering of Empirical Evidence from 23 Countries

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has been dramatically affecting the life of older adults with care needs and their family caregivers. This study illustrates how the initial outbreak of the pandemic changed the supply of formal and informal care to older adults in European countries and Israel and assesses the resilience of these countries in providing support to their older populations by means of a mix of both types of care. Methods: We subjected data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe COVID-19 period (SHARE-COVID-19) across 23 European countries (including Israel) to descriptive and cluster analyses. Results: In the first wave of the outbreak, a significant proportion of older adults in European countries received informal help, with an increase in the frequency of informal help received from children, neighbors, friends, or colleagues and a decrease in that received from other relatives. In most countries, difficulties in receiving home care services from professional providers were reported. Seven clusters were identified, reflecting different combinations of changes in the formal/informal care provision. In most countries, informal care is more resilient than home care services that formal providers deliver. Since they are an essential source for sustainable care, their challenges related to care should be addressed. The impact of the pandemic does not follow the traditional characterization of welfare regimes. Conclusions: A clustering effort may yield more understanding of the priorities that future care policies should exhibit at the national level and may identify potential systems for policymakers to enhance sustainability of care for community-dwelling older adults.