Understanding mobility barriers as well as ways to facilitate efficient and effective care provision becomes all the more important. This study describes transportation problems that IHSS clients and caregivers encounter and points to certain possible responses, in particular expanding the transportation assistance that caregivers are able to provide. The populations of care recipients and professional homecare workers are growing as, among other trends, the proportion of senior citizens increases and families disperse across the country or world.

Understanding mobility barriers as well as ways to facilitate efficient and effective care provision becomes all the more important. This study describes transportation problems that IHSS clients and caregivers encounter and points to certain possible responses, in particular expanding the transportation assistance that caregivers are able to provide. The populations of care recipients and professional homecare workers are growing as, among other trends, the proportion of senior citizens increases and families disperse across the country or world.

The results are complex and occasionally conflicting, yet patterns appear. For example, the IHSS clients have car-use rates far lower than average, with only 10% driving themselves when they leave home, and almost half live alone; these facts, combined with their low incomes and disabilities, mean that IHSS clients are sensitive to how much transportation assistance they receive in terms of how often they leave home and what destinations they are able to reach. They also respond to land use characteristics, especially when measured at the neighbourhood scale, with those living in higher density and accessibility areas generally experiencing greater mobility. The homecare workers similarly have low incomes and use alternative modes of transportation more often than do Contra Costa commuters on average. Unlike their clients, homecare workers living in higher density and accessibility areas generally experienced increased travel challenges. But living closer to their clients was associated with being able to provide more effective care, as was having an easier commute measured by other variables. The more care provided, the greater mobility their clients experienced.

Yale Law School
Anne Orelind Decker

18/12/2005

Anne Orelind Decker

research

Urban Policy > Social inclusion & integration > Quality of life

Social services