Preparation for Future Care Needs by West and East German Older Adults

Abstract

The results suggest that preparation for future care needs may be conceptualized as a successive process. Some individuals, however, may skip steps in the preparation process. For example, relatives may offer to provide care before the older adult has to decide among her or his options.

Planning and Decision Making for Care Transitions

“…Older adults do not find planning useful and some expect to pass away without needing long-term care. These beliefs are clearly predictive of planning behaviors such as gathering information and concrete planning from the theoretical model of PFC (Figure 6.1; Sörensen & Pinquart, 2000a). Attitudes are also a function of additional underlying external factors (Figure 6.2).…”

“…Ultimately, the process of PFC should culminate with concrete actions that reflect those preferences and decisions. Thus, PFC is a type of health-promotion activity that combines thoughts and behavior (Kulys & Tobin, 1980; Sörensen & Pinquart, 2000a; Sörensen & Pinquart, 2001a). …”

“…These, in turn, also influence individual beliefs about the necessity and usefulness of planning and concrete planning actions (Pinquart et al, 2003; Sörensen & Pinquart, 2000a). National long-term care policies differ in the extent to which they support and/or expect families to provide all, partial, or no care.…”

“…In addition, because health maintenance is the foundation for pursuing other goals such as social relationships, it receives the most proactive attention among middle-aged and older adults (Ouwehand, de Ridder, & Bensing, 2006). In some contexts, increasing age may be associated with an increase in pressure to consider and plan for changing health-related needs, leading to positive associations of age and PFC (Sörensen & Pinquart, 2000a). These counterbalancing forces may explain the inconsistencies in the literature regarding the relationship of age to PFC.…”

Helping Older Adults and Their Families Develop and Implement Care Plans

“…Internal locus of control, that is, the belief that one determines one's own fate rather than being subject primarily to external control, is associated with higher levels of thinking and talking about future care (Sörensen, 1998), as well as with a higher probability of having a concrete plan for the future (Pinquart & Sörensen, 2000). In addition, attitudes regarding the use of 6 JOURNAL OF GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK planning for the future influence whether people prepare for future care needs (Sörensen & Pinquart, 2000a). Individuals with rational decision style tend to gather more information, have a clearer idea of what their preferences are, and have engaged in more concrete planning, whereas, the avoidant decision style is associated with less concrete planning.…”