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Japan is advancing into a super-aged society at an unprecedented speed, and the proportion of the elderly population will continue to rise. The number of older adults needing nursing care will also increase with the aging population. We used a cross-sectional dataset of older Japanese adults to examine their future preferences for care facilities and their relationship with individual characteristics, household structure, and economic status. We further focused on a subgroup of those who lived alone and were experiencing poverty and examined their care needs through their choice of care facilities. We found the following results from multinomial logit and probit regressions. First, compared with living alone, older adults who live with their spouses or other members prefer to live in their own houses. Second, older adults experiencing poverty preferred to choose facilities geared towards low-income groups, while wealthy older adults preferred to choose fee-based nursing homes/nursing homes with diverse services and high costs. Third, single older adults in poverty were less likely to choose to live in facilities. Covariates such as sex, age, and health status also mattered in their choices. Therefore, tailoring the formal care services to the preferences and actual needs of older adults is imperative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we focused on the long-term care literacy of care recipients (older adults currently receiving formal care services) and examined its relationship with satisfaction with their care managers by using a unique individual dataset of Japanese people aged 65 years and older. To address the problem of non-respondent bias, we applied inverse probability weighting and the Heckman probit model for estimation. We found that the probability of older adults evaluating their satisfaction regarding the six aspects of care manager measurement increased with an increasing level of care literacy. However, concerning the level of satisfaction with their care managers, we only observed significant increases in the aspects of "Explanation power" and "Attitude and manners" as the level of care literacy increased. Covariates, such as age, gender, family structure, level of certification for long-term care, reasons for choosing the care manager, utilization of long-term care services, and the manner in which older respondents answered the survey questions, also mattered regarding the evaluation process of satisfaction of older adults. In Japan, utilizing formal care services based on the long-term care insurance system is complicated and sometimes difficult for older adults to understand. In this survey, 35% of older care recipients had inadequate care literacy. Improving the care literacy of older adults is important for better use of formal care services and increased satisfaction.