Impact of Financial Burden on Family Caregivers of Older Adults Using Long-Term Care Insurance Services

The increasing cost of long-term care is an issue faced by older care recipients and their families. The financial burden of long-term care for older adults may reduce the well-being of family caregivers. However, it remains unclear how family caregivers experiencing financial strain adapt to both caregiving and daily life.

This cross-sectional study examined the caregiver characteristics and financial burden associated with the cost of utilizing long-term care services for an older relative among 427 family caregivers.

Potential influencing factors were compared among three categories of financial burden and their impact on the lives of family caregivers. The chi-square test was used for categorical data (e.g., sex, marital status, employment status), and the Kruskal-Wallis test for continuous or ordinal data (e.g., age, self-rated health, annual household income).

The proportion of family caregivers experiencing financial burden was statistically significantly higher among those living with an older relative compared with those whose older relative was in a care facility (68.2% vs. 57.3%, respectively; p = .049). Among 198 family caregivers living with an older relative, a greater severity of functional disability in an older relative was statistically significantly associated with financial burden and its impact on their lives (p = .004). On the other hand, among 229 family caregivers of an older relative utilizing institutional care, those bearing the costs of long-term care were statistically significantly more likely to experience financial burden and its impact on their lives (p < .001).

A financial shortage among older relatives was found to have a negative impact on the work, private life, and care choices of family caregivers. These findings may inform the development of support measures tailored to caregivers with a limited household income.