Factors Influencing the Preference for Homes as the Location for Long-term Care in the Japanese Population

In this cross-sectional study, we aimed to investigate the factors for preferring homes as the location to receive long-term care in community-dwelling populations.

A total of 4,113 individuals with a response rate of 36.7% from four areas in Japan were analyzed. All information was obtained from a questionnaire survey conducted in 2019. We used negative binominal regression modeling with adjustments for areas to calculate the prevalence ratios (PRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the preference of long-term home care about factors. All missing values were input using multiple imputations.

The results show that the prevalence of preferring homes as the location for receiving long-term care was 73.4%. Being employed (PR: 1.04; 95% CI: 1.00–1.09), living with others (PR: 1.12; 95% CI: 1.05–1.19), feeling satisfied with the environment of nursing care in residential areas (PR: 1.05; 95% CI: 1.00–1.10), feeling satisfied with the natural surroundings in the community (PR: 1.18; 95% CI: 1.07–1.31), the presence of people in the community who can be consulted about problems (PR: 1.05; 95% CI: 1.00–1.10), and the presence of close friends in the community (PR: 1.09; 95% CI: 1.03–1.15) were significantly associated with the preference for long-term home care.

We suggest that municipalities should consider these social and interpersonal associations to support older residents’ preference of receiving home care services.