Findings from Shanghai University Advance Knowledge in Mental Health Diseases and Conditions (Long-term care insurance, mental health of the elderly and its spillovers): Mental Health Diseases and Conditions

Hospital & Nursing Home Daily

2023 MAR 17 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Hospital & Nursing Home Daily -- Data detailed on mental health diseases and conditions have been presented. According to news originating from Shanghai, People’s Republic of China, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “The paper studies the effects of the long-term care insurance (LTCI) program in China on the mental health of older adults and the wellbeing of their families.”

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from Shanghai University: “We employ the staggered difference-in-differences approach based on the LTCI pilots from 2015 to 2017. First, we find the LTCI program improves older adults’ happiness and reduces depression symptoms significantly. The effects on the improvement in memory and cognition are associated with the elderly with activities of daily living-related need for care. Second, the effects of LTCI are partially mediated through providing community services, relieving care burdens, and reducing the incidence of diseases. More importantly, LTCI coverage improves caregivers’ physical health and social activities, reflecting its welfare spillover effects. Furthermore, the relationship between LTCI and mental health differs due to the difference in LTCI designs and older adults’ demographic characteristics.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “This presents a need to consider mental health in the services and evaluation criteria of LTCI.”

For more information on this research see: Long-term care insurance, mental health of the elderly and its spillovers. Frontiers in Public Health, 2023,11. (Frontiers in Public Health - http://journal.frontiersin.org/journal/public-health). The publisher for Frontiers in Public Health is Frontiers Media S.A.

A free version of this journal article is available at https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.982656.

Our news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Yunfei Chen, School of Economics, Shanghai University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China. Additional authors for this research include Hong Zhao.