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. 2021 Jun 28;60(3):167-175.
doi: 10.2478/sjph-2021-0024. eCollection 2021 Sep.

Informal Care in the Context of Long-term Health Care for the Elderly in Slovenia: a Qualitative Study

Danica Rotar Pavlič  1 , Alem Maksuti  2 , Aleksandra Panić  3 , Klara Pavleković  3
Affiliations

Informal Care in the Context of Long-term Health Care for the Elderly in Slovenia: a Qualitative Study

Danica Rotar Pavlič et al. Zdr Varst. .

Abstract
in English, Slovenian

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.

Results: 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.

Conclusion: Other social systems determine and limit the position of informal caregivers in Slovenia. This qualitative study should be understood as useful stepping-stone to future research and real improvement in this area.

Ozadje: Slovenija je starajoča se družba. Izdatki za socialno varnost za starejše nenehno naraščajo in večina Slovencev je trdno prepričanih, da mora država zagotoviti oskrbo starejših. To pomeni, da se neformalni oskrbovalci v svojem altruističnem poslanstvu srečujejo s številnimi izzivi in težavami.

Cilji: Preučiti izkušnje in občutke neformalnih oskrbovalcev in razumeti, kako neformalni oskrbovalci podpirajo starejše ter s katerimi izzivi in težavami se srečujejo v slovenski družbi.

Metode: Študija temelji na kvalitativnih polstrukturiranih intervjujih z 10 oskrbovalci. Poleg opisne statistike smo izvedli kvalitativno študijo z uporabo metode kvalitativne analize vsebine.

Rezultati: Med izkušnjami neformalnih oskrbovalcev smo izbrali štiri teme z izzivi in težavami pri zagotavljanju dolgoročne zdravstvene oskrbe starejših. Oskrbovalci so izpostavili, da so pri neformalni dolgotrajni oskrbi svojih starejših sorodnikov in prijateljev večinoma prepuščeni sebi in svojemu altruističnemu poslanstvu. Sistemska ureditev nacionalnega sistema javnega zdravstvenega varstva je vir številnih težav.

Zaključek: V Sloveniji drugi družbeni sistemi določajo in omejujejo položaj neformalnih oskrbovalcev. To kvalitativno študijo je treba razumeti kot koristno odskočno desko za prihodnje raziskave in resnične izboljšave na tem področju.

Keywords: Slovenia; caregivers; elder care; elderly; long-term health care; qualitative study.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of interest The authors declare that no conflicts of interest exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Age-related benefits in Slovenia, 1996–2016 (euro million) (6).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Who should take care of the elderly? (N=1.204) (7).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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