Diversity in Older Adults' Care Networks: The Added Value of Individual Beliefs and Social Network Proximity.

Objectives: Policy reforms in long-term care require an increased share of informal caregivers in elderly care. This may be more feasible for older adults who (believe they) can organize the care themselves and have a local social network. This study describes care network types, how they vary in the share of informal caregivers, and examines associations with characteristics of community-dwelling older adults, including individual beliefs and network proximity.

Individual determinants of task division in older adults' mixed care networks.

Older adults in need of long-term care often receive help from both informal and formal caregivers. The division of tasks between these different types of caregivers may vary among such mixed care networks. Traditional models of task division suggest that formal and informal caregivers may either supplement each other or specialise in the care activities performed.