Relationships between Kazakh elders' disability severity and informal care time in far north‐western low‐income areas in China: The mediating roles of caregiver health and home‐based care quality.

Background: Elders' disability severity and caregiver health could predict elders' informal care time, but the mechanism by which the degree of disability in the elderly affects informal care time is unclear. Aim: The aim of this works is to explore the mediating roles of caregiver health and home‐based care quality between disability severity of elders and informal care time in far north‐western low‐income areas in China. Method: From September 2017 to February 2018, three hundred fifty‐two dyads of Kazakh disabled elders and informal caregivers in Xinjiang were interviewed. Structural equation modelling analyses were applied. Results: Significant positive correlations were observed between elders' disability severity and informal care time, caregiver health and informal care time, elders' disability severity and caregiver health. Significant negative correlations were observed between home‐based care quality and informal care time, elders' disability severity and home‐based care quality, caregiver health and home‐based care quality. Elders' disability severity had 71.94% direct effect on informal care time, 28.06% indirect effect on informal care time mediated by home‐based care quality and caregiver health. Conclusion: Caregiver health and home‐based care quality play mediating roles on the path relationship between the elders' disability severity and informal care time. Summary statement: What is already known about this topic? Elders' disability severity and caregiver health are critical factors that affect informal care time.The mechanism by which the degree of disability in the elderly affects informal care time is unclear. What this paper adds? Elders' disability severity is positively associated with caregiver health and negatively associated with home‐based care quality.The better home‐based care quality, the shorter the informal care time.Disabled elders' severity degree had a direct effect on informal care time and indirect effects on informal care time mediated by caregiver health and home‐based care quality. The implications of this paper: Community nurses, doctors and health care teams should provide medical services, nursing skills and knowledge for the dyads of disabled elders and informal caregivers and should provide emotional support for other family members to enable growth of the entire family in the process of long‐term care and to reduce informal care time.The government should attach great importance to the informal care time for disabled elders and propose specific informal care time cost compensation policies based on path relationships that influence informal care time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]