REGIONAL EXPERIENCE IN ORGANIZING KINSHIP (FAMILY) CARE FOR THE ELDERLY AND DISABLED

The relevance of the research topic is determined by the increase in the number of elderly and disabled people in Russia and around the world, including those who need constant long-term care, as well as an increase in the burden on inpatient social service institutions, the introduction and development of inpatient replacement technologies, one of which is the technology of support for kinship (family care).
Methods: comparative analysis, secondary analysis, analysis of statistical data.
The purpose of the study is to analyze the main results of organizing kinship (family care) for the elderly and disabled in our country (using the example of the Irkutsk region), identify problems, prospects and ways to improve its effectiveness.
Results. The correlation of the concepts of «elderly people» is clarified; current statistical data on the number of elderly and disabled people among the entire population in Russia, as well as the dynamics of changes in their number for 2015–2021 in the Irkutsk region are presented; the international experience in organizing related (family) care, its differences and similarities with the domestic one is analyzed; the results of implementation of the technology of support for related (family) care in the Irkutsk region for 2019–2021 are described, the main problems of its implementation are identified and ways of development and efficiency improvement are formulated.
Conclusions. Comprehensive measures are needed to support relatives caring for the elderly and disabled, related to the development of flexible forms of their employment, material support, differentiation of tasks of formal and informal care, the development of new methods, forms, technologies, the development of programs based on a scientifically sound approach with research to identify problems and the results of their implementation, with mandatory consideration of the opinions of long-term caregivers.