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Informal care in the context of long-term health care for the elderly in Slovenia: A qualitative study

Background: Slovenia is an aging society. Social security expenditures for the elderly are rising steadily, and the majority of Slovenians are firmly convinced that the state must provide elder care. This situation means that informal caregivers face many challenges and problems in their altruistic mission. Objectives: To explore the experiences and feelings of informal caregivers and to provide an understanding of how informal caregivers support the elderly and what challenges and difficulties they face in Slovenian society. Methods: The study is based on qualitative semi-structured interviews with 10 caregivers. In addition to descriptive statistics, we conducted a qualitative study using the qualitative content analysis method. Findings: We identified four themes among health caregivers’ experiences with challenges and problems in providing long-term health care for the elderly. Caregivers pointed out that they are mostly left to themselves and their altruistic mission of giving informal long-term care to their elderly relatives and friends. Systemic regulation of the national public health care system is the source of many problems. Other social systems determine and limit the position of informal caregivers in Slovenia. Conclusions: This qualitative study should be understood as useful stepping-stone to future research and real improvement in this area.

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Key Information

Type of Reference
Jour
Type of Work
Journal article
Publisher
Sciendo
ISBN/ISSN
03510026
Publication Year
2021
Issue Number
3
Journal Titles
Zdravstveno Varstvo
Volume Number
60
Start Page
167
End Page
175