Long-Term Care Preferences Among Older Adults
Summary
As populations age worldwide, understanding the preferences of older adults for long-term care has become vital for the design of sustainable and person-centred services. Research consistently shows a strong desire to remain in one’s own home and community—often termed ageing in place—supported by informal and home-based care whenever possible. Preferences are shaped by a complex interplay of health status, functional ability, family proximity and social support, alongside individual values concerning autonomy, continuity and dignity. As care needs intensify with advancing physical or cognitive impairment, willingness to accept formal services, including residential or assisted-living arrangements, rises. Socio-economic factors, cultural expectations and past caregiving experiences further modulate these choices, as do perceptions of cost, quality and ease of access. Providers and policymakers must therefore account for heterogeneity in older adults’ wishes, balancing flexible service models with workforce capacity, funding mechanisms and equitable access to ensure that care delivery aligns with evolving preferences.
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Long-Term Care Preferences Among Older Adults publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in long-term care preferences among older adults across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Discrete choice experiment: A quantitative method that elicits individuals’ preferences by asking them to choose between hypothetical care scenarios characterised by varying attributes.
Latent class analysis: A statistical technique used to identify unobserved subgroups within a population based on response patterns, revealing distinct preference profiles.
Ageing in place: The preference of older adults to remain living in their own home and community for as long as possible, supported by appropriate services.
Self-funded care: Care services for which individuals bear the full cost privately rather than relying on public or insurance funding.
References
- Preference of Older Adults for Flexibility in Service and Providers in Community-Based Social Care: A Discrete Choice Experiment. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (2022).
- Public preferences for paying for social care in later life in England: A latent class analysis. Social Science & Medicine (2021).
- The role of uncertainty in planning for self-funded social care for older people with a diagnosis of dementia. Ageing and Society (2023).
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