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.