Use of Informal and Formal Support Networks by Rural Elderly Poor

Formal and informal support: the great divide

“…However, informal support was relied upon exclusively under three circumstances: when the elderly individual had high socioeconomic status, lived close to children, or was widowed and lived away from children. Scott and Roberto (1985) also found support for Cantor's (1975) hierarchical compensatory model, as in situations where children lived in close proximity, friends were less likely to be involved in care. However, when the elderly individual was widowed and lived far away from children, friends were much more likely to be involved.…”

“…This study underlines the need to distinguish among services when assessing the interface. Scott and Roberto (1985) observed patterns of informal and formal care among 571 rural elders using a social support network perspective. The authors found evidence for Johnson's (1983) model of shared functioning only for those elderly individuals who had the fewest socioeconomic resources.…”

“…Thus, this shared-functioning' model also lends support to a substitution model. Based on their results and those of others, Scott and Roberto (1985) believe that rather than strengthening family support in rural areas, interventions should focus on promoting the use of formal services as a means of alleviating the strain of family members and friends who are being relied on exclusively. Noelker and Bass (1989) developed a typology of formal±informal support among 519 informal caregivers.…”

“…A good`social support network' can help the individual ful®ll physical, psychological and social needs (Scott and Roberto, 1985) and is generally associated with fewer health problems (Miller and Mishler, 1964) and more positive outcomes in the face of stressful events (Rapheal, 1977). This is a good framework for understanding the relationship between formal and informal help as it allows the way in which both ful®ll the needs of the elderly individual to be observed (Scott and Roberto, 1985). For instance, Shanas (1979) put forward a`kin substitution' model, which is similar to Greene's (1983) substitution model in that one form of help is substituted by another.…”

“…As the elderly become more dependent on formal services and changes in demographics result in more women in the workforce and fewer available informal caregivers, there is a need for more organized and ecient formal support networks that work well with, rather than replace, family helpers (Scott and Roberto, 1985;Aneshensel et al, 1995). The need for coordination may be especially acute in cases of dementia, which places high amounts of stress on informal and formal carers alike.…”