Transitions between care networks: a prospective study among older adults in the Netherlands

As health impairment increases, older adults utilize care from different types of caregivers, but little is known about changes in the composition of care networks. We mapped the transitions between different care networks to gain insight into which people develop care networks that include informal, privately and publicly paid care. We used three waves (2012–2015–2018) of the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam with 1413 Dutch community-dwelling adults, aged 64–100. Network types were identified using six types of caregivers: (1) co-resident, (2) non-co-resident children, (3) other kin, (4) neighbours/friends/acquaintances, (5) publicly paid, (6) privately paid, in a latent transition analysis with mortality and moving to a care facility as missing states. Five types of care networks were identified: (1) no care, (2) privately paid, (3) mixed informal, (4) mixed publicly paid, (5) co-resident. The co-resident network was the most unstable and had a high transition rate to nursing homes. Participants from the privately paid care network often transitioned to a mixed informal network and rarely transitioned to a mixed publicly paid network. Transitions out of the no-care network were mostly to the privately paid network. The two mixed care networks were the most stable. Transitions appeared to be most triggered by deteriorating health. Transitions to institutional care were most likely in the mixed informal, mixed publicly paid and the co-resident network. Thus, these networks appear to require additional support to facilitate ageing in place.