TY - JOUR
T1 - Identifying Care and Support Needs Profiles for Home-Based Aged Care
T2 - A Latent Class Analysis Using Routinely Collected Aged Care Assessment Information
AU - Hensher, Martin
A2 - McKittrick, Rachel
A2 - Hutchinson, Alison M.
A2 - Manias, Elizabeth
A2 - Orellana, Liliana
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2025. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
PY - 2026/7
Y1 - 2026/7
N2 - This study identified care and support need profiles for people requiring home-based aged care and explored profile associations with socio-demographic and psychosocial factors. The study utilized cross-sectional aged care assessment data for 94,975 Victorians (mean age 84 [SD = 7.6] years) eligible for Australian Government-funded home-based aged care (Home Care Package) (January 2019–June 2022). Latent class analysis identified seven profiles (P1 to P7). P1, the largest profile (n = 23,487, 24.7%), included those with predominantly basic needs, for example, housework (93%) and shopping (68%). Needs gradually increased from P1 to P7. P7 (n = 9,274, 9.8%) included those with the most advanced needs, for example, showering (99%), medication management (99%), walking (89%), short-term memory loss (99%), and disorientation to time (93%). Individuals living alone were under-represented in higher-need profiles (P4 to P7). The identified profiles provide valuable insights to optimize care management, service-type requirements, and workforce skills tailored to the needs of people within each profile.
AB - This study identified care and support need profiles for people requiring home-based aged care and explored profile associations with socio-demographic and psychosocial factors. The study utilized cross-sectional aged care assessment data for 94,975 Victorians (mean age 84 [SD = 7.6] years) eligible for Australian Government-funded home-based aged care (Home Care Package) (January 2019–June 2022). Latent class analysis identified seven profiles (P1 to P7). P1, the largest profile (n = 23,487, 24.7%), included those with predominantly basic needs, for example, housework (93%) and shopping (68%). Needs gradually increased from P1 to P7. P7 (n = 9,274, 9.8%) included those with the most advanced needs, for example, showering (99%), medication management (99%), walking (89%), short-term memory loss (99%), and disorientation to time (93%). Individuals living alone were under-represented in higher-need profiles (P4 to P7). The identified profiles provide valuable insights to optimize care management, service-type requirements, and workforce skills tailored to the needs of people within each profile.
KW - care needs
KW - community aged care
KW - home care
KW - latent class analysis
KW - long-term care policy
KW - service-type requirements
KW - support services
KW - workforce requirements
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105013972790
U2 - 10.1177/07334648251366720
DO - 10.1177/07334648251366720
M3 - Article
C2 - 40836612
AN - SCOPUS:105013972790
SN - 0733-4648
VL - 45
SP - 1428
EP - 1440
JO - Journal of Applied Gerontology
JF - Journal of Applied Gerontology
IS - 7
ER -