A dvances in Metho dology and Statistics , 2023, 20 (2), 173–186. https://doi.org/10.51936/10.51936/itv v1127
Analysis of the national structur e of car e pr o vide d to
older p e ople in Slo v enia
V alentina Hleb e c
a, ∗
, Miriam Hurtado Monarr es
a,b
a
Univ ersity of Ljubljana, Faculty of So cial W ork, Ljubljana, Slo v enia
b
Univ ersity of Ljubljana, Faculty of So cial Sciences, Ljubljana, Slo v enia
Abstract
A geing in place has for many y ears b e en at the for efr ont of p olitical goals for car e pr o vision
for older p e ople in Eur op e . The organization of car e in terms of the national go v erning
structur e must ther efor e b e continually obser v e d to b etter understand the car e actually
offer e d and then use d by older p e ople . In this study , w e e xamine d the organization of
so cial home car e and institutional car e acr oss municipalities and administrativ e units in
terms of what is offer e d to older p e ople as formal car e . V ariation acr oss municipalities and
administrativ e units is obser v e d with e xplorativ e cluster analysis and analysis of means
of ke y dep endent variables acr oss clusters to b etter understand the variability in the car e
offer e d to older p e ople in those municipalities and administrativ e units. The r esults sho w
that while so cial home car e is temp orally available acr oss se v eral clusters of municipalities,
and the affor dability of so cial home car e is also stable acr oss clusters of municipalities,
ther e ar e still municipalities wher e so cial home car e has a limite d time availability and
municipalities wher e the out-of-p o cket contribution to so cial home car e deliv er y is nearly
the twice the av erage of such contributions. In terms of institutional car e , one can find
administrativ e units with either a deficit or a surplus of placements of such car e available .
K e y w or ds: older p e ople , ageing in place , car e organization, home car e , car e p olicy
1. Intr o duction
Ho w to pr o vide supp ort to p e ople with incr easing car e ne e ds in older age to enable them
to continue to liv e in their o wn homes and close to their family memb ers, friends, and
neighb ors? Do w e inv olv e family memb ers and ask for mor e informal car e and le v el out the
e v er smaller lab or market participation of informal and family car ers, or inv est in formal
ser vices to supp ort b oth older p e ople ( and the ne e d and right to liv e indep endently ) and
family car ers ( and their long-term p ension se curity , pr eser vation of their multiple so cial
r oles and health) at the same time? Balancing such questions and pr o viding the appr opriate
∗
Corr esp onding author
Email addr esses: valentina.hleb e c@fdv .uni-lj.si (V alentina Hleb e c),
miriam.hurtado-monarr es@fdv .uni-lj.si (Miriam Hurtado Monarr es)
ORCID iDs: (V alentina Hleb e c), (Miriam Hurtado Monarr es)

174 Hleb e c and Hurtado Monarr es
go v erning structur e in terms of the financing and organizing of ser vices for older p e ople
and family and informal car ers ar e at the for efr ont of aging so cieties in Eur op e .
A ging in place , also a p opular p olicy term (Wiles et al., 2012 ), means r emaining living
in the community while aging, allo wing various le v els of indep endence , utilizing ser vices
offer e d in the community and most often deliv er e d in the homes of older p e ople . Apart
fr om supp orting informal car ers, which deliv er a huge amount of car e , the de v elopment of
univ ersally accessible long-term ser vices is among the e xpr ess goals in p olicy de v elopment
in Eur op e , which should pr olong aging in place and av oid r esidential placing for as long as
p ossible (Collo và & Pap e , 2022 ). Ho w the actual car e deliv er y is finance d and organize d
dep ends, of course , on historical foundations and curr ent p olicy de v elopments acr oss
countries.
Slo v enia is a p ost-so cialist transition countr y that offers older p e ople and their family
car ers the follo wing frame w ork: childr en ar e legally oblige d to pay for the costs of formal
car e for their aging par ents, institutional car e is r elativ ely w ell de v elop e d and was de v eloping
after the 1960s, wher eas ser vices for p e ople aging in place ar e a ne w er addition to the
go v erning structur e , de v eloping gradually since the mid-1990s ( e .g., Hleb e c, 2013a , 2013b ;
Hleb e c & Rakar , 2017 ; Hleb e c et al., 2014 ). So cial home car e is a mor e r e cent addition to
car e for older p e ople . It is a so cial assistance ser vice implemente d on the national le v el
follo wing adoption of the So cial Se curity A ct in 1992. Its main obje ctiv e is to impr o v e the
quality of life of those p e ople living at home ( aging in place) who ar e unable to car e for
themselv es due to old age or illness, and whose family cannot pr o vide them with sufficient
car e , or hav e no imme diate family . Base d on the characteristics of its users, the pr ogram is
fo cuse d on maintaining the health of older p e ople , ther eby easing the bur den on nursing
homes and healthcar e institutions for older p e ople . Both institutional car e and so cial home
car e ar e co-finance d by public funding on the le v el of a municipality ( so cial home car e) or
health insurance and taxation (institutional car e , building costs) and with out-of-p o cket
contributions by users and their family memb ers. In 2021, namely , the y ear of the data in
our study , the av erage monthly out-of-p o cket contribution of institutional car e for b oth
private and public homes was € 22.47 p er day for Car e 1; € 27.39 for Car e 2; € 32.3 for Car e
3a; € 36.57 for Car e 3b , and € 35.57 for Car e 4 (Ministr y of Lab our , Family , So cial Affairs
and Equal Opp ortunities of the Republic of Slo v enia [MLRS], 2021 ). The av erage out-of-
p o cket contribution for so cial home car e was € 5.96 p er hour of car e on w e ekdays, while on
w e ekends and holidays it was € 6.22 (K o vač et al., 2022 ).
So cial home car e b eneficiaries ar e p e ople 65 y ears of age and older who ar e unable to
liv e fully indep endently due to age or age-r elate d conditions and p e ople with a disability
status under the So cial Car e of Mentally and P hysically Handicapp e d Persons A ct who ar e
unable to liv e indep endently as determine d by the comp etent commission, pr o vide d that
their typ e and degr e e of disability allo ws them to r e ceiv e o ccasional so cial home car e . Other
disable d p e ople ackno wle dge d as having the right to car e for the majority of life ’s functions
and assistance fr om formal ser vices, as w ell as childr en who ar e grav ely ill, hav e a se v er e
physical disability or a se v er e mental disability and ar e ineligible for organize d forms of
car e , ar e also b eneficiaries of so cial home car e . For up to a maximum of 20 hours p er w e ek,
the ser vice may b e dir e ctly pr o vide d to the r e cipient in their home on any day of the w e ek.
The monthly hours may b e incr ease d by up to one-thir d if the b eneficiar y’s cir cumstances
ne cessitate that tw o dir e ct so cial car e pr ofessionals deliv er the ser vice (MLRS, 2023b ). In
2010, the p ossibility of incr easing the monthly supply of so cial home car e was adde d to the
so cial home car e deliv er y go v erning structur e (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slo v enia
[ OGRS], 2010 ).

A nalysis of the national structur e of car e pr o vide d to older p e ople 175
Citizens of the Republic of Slo v enia who liv e in Slo v enia ar e eligible for institutional
car e , and for eign nationals who hold a p ermanent r esidence p ermit in Slo v enia may apply
to b e admitte d to a nursing home . Such p ersons must b e 65 y ears of age or older to b e
admitte d. Other p e ople who r e quir e therap y to r eplace or enhance the r ole of the home or
their o wn family due to health issues, chr onic disease , or other disor ders also qualify . The
cost of the car e ser vices is co v er e d by the r esidents dir e ctly , or with assistance fr om the
family and the community . Car e costs must b e determine d using a sp e cifie d appr oach and
appr o v e d by the Ministr y of Lab or , Family , and So cial Affairs in addition to the authorize d
home management agencies (MLRS, 2023a ). The sele ction of an institutional car e facility
has historically b e en base d on tw o criteria: availability at time of ne e d, and closeness to the
place of r esidence .
While institutional car e was able to supp ort up to 4.38 % of the p opulation age d 65+
in 2022 (Community of So cial Institutions of Slo v enia [ CSIS], 2022 ), so cial home car e has
de v elop e d v er y slo wly , with just 1.8 % of the p opulation age d 65+ b eing inv olv e d in so cial
home car e in 2022 (K o vač et al., 2022 ) while 3.5 % is the target p er centage (Resolution on the
national so cial pr ote ction pr ogramme for the p erio d 2013–2020). Both typ es of ser vice ar e
monitor e d in terms of deliv er y and annual r ep orts ar e publicly available for so cial home car e
at the So cial Pr ote ction Institute of the Republic of Slo v enia (SPIRS) and for institutional
car e at the CSIS.
Ho w car e is finance d, organize d, and offer e d to p otential users is generally describ e d
as access to ser vices (Penchansky & Thomas, 1981 ). A ccess to ser vices is a br oad concept
that obser v es the degr e e of fit b etw e en the system and clients or users. Fiv e dimensions ar e
define d, namely , availability , accessibility , accommo dation, affor dability , and acceptability .
Let us consider ho w these fiv e dimensions of access w ould r elate to so cial home car e and
institutional car e . A vailability of car e suggests that car e must b e offer e d to p ossible users
and r efers mor e sp e cifically to the r elationship b etw e en the amount and typ e of car e that
e xists in the community and the amount of r esour ces the p otential users p ossess, along
with their ne e ds and pr efer ences. First, b oth so cial home car e and institutional car e should
b e offer e d in the community wher e old p e ople r eside . Alr eady , w e encounter issues with
r esp e ct to whether what is actually offer e d is ge ographically close to older p e ople in Slo v enia.
So cial home car e has de v elop e d as a community (municipal) offering, while institutional
car e has historically not de v elop e d in a community setting in terms of municipalities but in
administrativ e units which ar e ge ographically quite larger . Further , when institutional car e
is chosen as the pr eferr e d typ e of car e , this is fr e quently a conse quence of a sudden, urgent
ne e d like a fall or acute illness. In these cases, the urgency of the placement pr e vails o v er
the conv enience of a ge ographically close unit and the fact a placement is p ossible is the
main argument in sele cting the sp e cific lo cation of institutional car e . Ther e can accor dingly
b e a considerable distance to trav el for family memb ers, friends or neighb ors to visit the
older p erson, and the y may not b e use p ersonal transp ort like cars but ne e d to r ely on
public transp ort, which may take a longer time and is p erhaps not available at conv enient
times. This links us dir e ctly to the se cond dimension of access, accessibility (Penchansky &
Thomas, 1981 ), which r efers to distance b etw e en the car e r e cipient’s lo cation and the ser vice
itself, trav el options, and the mone y and time ne e de d to access the ser vice . So cial home car e
is inde e d offer e d in older p e ople ’s o wn homes and thus mor e accessible than institutional
car e . An older p erson is allo w e d to stay at home and r e ceiv es the car e r e quir e d. Community
nursing is also organize d in similar ways such that the nurse actually trav els to their clients
and the other way ar ound. Considering the accessibility dimensions, institutional car e
sometimes induces the so cial isolation and loneliness of r esidents if the institutions ar e

176 Hleb e c and Hurtado Monarr es
lo cate d outside the municipality in which the y liv e . A ccommo dation (Penchansky & Thomas,
1981 ) r efers to the r elationship b etw e en the organization of ser vice pr o ducers with r egar d to
w orking and visiting ours, parking, phone facilities and so on and users’ capacities to use the
ser vices in a way that the y ar e offer e d. T aking the time dimension into account, so cial home
car e may or may not b e offer e d during mornings and afterno ons on w e ekdays, or it may
also b e offer e d on w e ekends and holidays. While the w e ekday deliv er y of so cial home car e
ser vices may make a lot of sense to organizations that must optimize the pr eferr e d times of
users and time availability of car ers, as w ell as trav el b etw e en lo cations. Family car ers, on the
other hand, may appr e ciate some r espite and time to run ne cessar y errands, allo wing them
to fully enjo y their w e ekends and holidays. Institutional car e is offer e d ar ound the clo ck, so
this dimension might not b e as imp ortant unless it is linke d with long trav eling hours for
visits. If the trav el time is longer , family memb ers, friends and neighb ors may b e unable to
visit e v er y day or as often as the y or the older p e ople desir e . Affor dability (Penchansky &
Thomas, 1981 ) r efers to the r elationship b etw e en the cost of ser vices, insurance co v erages,
and out-of-p o cket contributions of users, as w ell as satisfaction with such costs among
users and their family memb ers. In terms of financial r e quir ements, b oth so cial home car e
and institutional car e ar e co-finance d. Municipalities financially supp ort at least 50 % of
the normativ e cost of ser vices. Institutional car e financing comprises health insurance
contributions for health car e and r esidential costs which ar e co v er e d by users and their
families. If the costs cannot b e met by the user and the family , the municipality steps in and
pays the r emaining costs. A hierar chy of cost contributions is w ell establishe d e v er since
the last financial crisis of 2008, although it has b e en in place for much longer . The costs
of buildings and infrastructur e ar e r esp onsibility of the founder , in the past most often the
state , ho w e v er r e cent de v elopments hav e b e en mostly privately o wne d (Hleb e c & Rakar ,
2017 ) and this has alter e d the comp osition of offerings to older p e ople . Giv en the fact that
urgency often induces a mo v e to institutional car e , older p e ople ar e many times leaving their
r esidential community to r e ceiv e the car e the y ne e d. This also e xplains why monitoring
and matching the characteristics of older p e ople , the characteristics of the municipalities
the y liv e in and the administrativ e units wher e institutional car e is offer e d, is imp ossible
and cannot b e p erforme d simply by lo oking at the characteristics of administrativ e units
without monitoring and tracking individual p ersonal data.
Pr e vious analyses on the le v el of municipalities (Hleb e c, 2013a ; Hleb e c et al., 2014 )
unco v er e d se v eral issues r elate d to car e deliv er y in Slo v enia, as o v er vie w e d in the follo wing
paragraphs. Since the financing and organization of so cial home car e has b e en the r esp onsi-
bility of municipalities, dramatic differ ences b etw e en municipalities could b e obser v e d in the
early y ears of establishing the ser vice in terms of a rural-urban division wher e rural munici-
palities w er e slo w er with de v eloping so cial home car e . Differ ences w er e also sho wn in terms
of affor dability as a municipality is legally oblige d to co-finance at least 50 % of the cost of
car e deliv er y . This means ther e w er e municipalities wher e out-of-p o cket contributions for
so cial home car e w er e r easonable and other ones wher e such contributions w er e v er y high.
The numb er of users was higher in urban ar eas than in rural ar eas compar e d to the numb er
of eligible users (Hleb e c, 2012 ). Institutional car e was de v el op e d differ ently in terms of
wher e ( which parts of the countr y ) institutions w er e built (Hleb e c, 2013b ; Hleb e c et al., 2014 ),
while ther e w er e municipalities wher e ther e was an abundance of placements available and
municipalities wher e r esidents w er e when institutional car e was adopte d, older p ersons
w er e for ce d to leav e the communities wher e the y had b e en living to r e ceiv e institutional
car e . Institutional car e has transforme d significantly o v er the de cades and r e cently b e en
transforme d to community-oriente d car e centers (Hleb e c & Mali, 2013 ) offering institutional

A nalysis of the national structur e of car e pr o vide d to older p e ople 177
car e , so cial home car e , and day car e for lo cal r esidents.
The ab o v e-summarize d disparities w er e , naturally , also obser v e d by users themselv es
and their family car ers. In-depth analysis of so cial home car e users and their family car ers
r e v eale d that when so cial home car e was adopte d, users w er e highly satisfie d with ser vices,
alb eit the access to car e was quite challenging in terms of fiv e dimensions of access (Hleb e c,
2018 , 2020 ; Hleb e c & Filip o vič Hrast, 2015 ). Highly satisfie d users differ e d fr om unsatisfie d
users in terms of the affor dability and temp oral availability of so cial home car e . The
satisfaction de cr ease d with car e ne e ds ( and the numb er of car e hours r e ceiv e d fr om so cial
home car e).
The purp ose of this study was to consider ho w so cial home car e deliv er y is curr ently
shap e d acr oss municipalities in Slo v enia. Ideally , municipalities should conv erge in terms
of the availability of so cial home car e in all dimensions of access (Penchansky & Thomas,
1981 ; Thomas & Penchansky , 1984 ) so that users of so cial home car e w ould b e offer e d the
same package of car e options and w ould tailor the use of so cial home car e to their ne e ds.
W e also sought to obser v e ho w the institutional car e is pr o vide d acr oss administrativ e units,
hoping to find only small differ ences.
2. Metho ds
Data fr om various public sour ces (K o vač et al., 2022 ; Statistical Office of the Republic of
Slo v enia [SURS], 2023a ) w er e gather e d to build a database of indicators of so cial home car e ,
institutional car e , and indicators of a municipality’s de v elopment. The majority of data
sour ces ar e asso ciate d with activities carrie d out in 2021, wher e the data w er e publishe d in
2022. During the time of the data colle ction and analysis, the long-term car e legislation had
y et to b e adopte d and it is note d that no major changes w er e intr o duce d and the data ar e
thus still r ele vant.
The purp ose of the analysis was to obser v e and unco v er systemic variations in car e
available to individuals base d on their place of r esidence in the case of so cial home car e and
pr o ximity to place of r esidence for institutional car e . A s municipality and administrativ e
unit (in the case of institutional car e) w er e the units of analysis ( and not individuals), no
sampling was induce d and p opulation data w er e use d for b oth sets of car e for older p e ople .
The dep endent variables w er e indicators of so cial home car e and indicators of institu-
tional car e . The indep endent variables w er e characteristics of municipalities that measur e
the de v elopment of municipalities and other characteristics like the income of the r esidents.
The variables for so cial home car e ar e pr esente d in T able 1 . The sele ction of dep endent
variables was base d on the r esults of pr e vious analyses of so cial home car e (K o vač et al., 2022 ;
SURS, 2023c ) while the choice of variables use d by SPIRS uses a tw o-stage data colle ction.
The first step colle cts data r ele vant to the municipality ( organization of the ser vice , prices,
etc.), follo w e d by data r elating to each user and each emplo y e e individually ( anonymize d
micr o-data) to monitor the deliv er y of car e in Slo v enia. The data use d in this study w er e
colle cte d, v erifie d, and analyze d b etw e en April 5, 2022 and Septemb er 27, 2022. W e se-
le cte d tw o indicators of usage (the numb er of eligible p opulation age d 65+ and numb er
of users age d 65+) and tw o indicators of availability , namely an indicator of affor dability
( out-of-p o cket contribution of users for so cial home car e p er hour—price p er user , valid on
De cemb er 31, 2021, for w e ekdays) and temp oral availability (the availability of so cial home
car e on w e ekdays, w e ekends, and public holidays—a cumulativ e indicator ).
The indep endent variables for the analysis of so cial home car e ar e pr esente d in T able 2.
Her e w e obser v e d indicators of aging and the de v elopment of municipalities (Emplo yment
Ser vice of Slo v enia [ESS], 2023 ; Ministr y of Finance of the Republic of Slo v enia [MFRS], 2023 ;

178 Hleb e c and Hurtado Monarr es
T able 1. Indicators of so cial home car e
Lab el V ariable name and description
𝑌 1
Name : Shar e of p opulation age d 65 and mor e
a
Description : Population age d 65+ as a shar e of the total p opulation for the se cond half of
2021.
𝑌 2
Name : Numb er of users age d 65 and mor e
b
Description : Numb er of all ser vice users age d 65 and o v er in 2021.
𝑌 3
Name : Price p er user ( w e ekdays)
c
Description : Price of the ser vice for the user on w e ekdays.
𝑌 4
Name : T emp oral accessibility of so cial home car e
d
Description : The variable indicates ho w many municipalities pr o vide home help on
w e ekdays, w e ekends and holidays. An inde x was calculate d, ranging fr om 1 to 4 to
indicate the temp oral accessibility of so cial home car e .
a
Data on the shar e of p opulation age d 65 and older , colle cte d in municipality in the se cond part of the y ear
2021 (SURS, 2021 ).
b
Numb er of users age d 65 and mor e , colle cte d in the y ear 2021 in municipality .
c
Data on the price p er user colle cte d in the municipality , valid on De cemb er 31, 2021.
d
So cial home car e in a municipality , accessible on w e ekdays, w e ekends and public holidays. Municipalities
ar e allo w e d to pr esent the price of so cial home car e p er hour only if the so cial home car e is actually offer e d
during a sp e cific time p erio d ( e .g., if the price p er hour is pr esente d for so cial home car e on w e ekday
mornings only , this indicates that so cial home car e is actually offer e d only on w e ekday mornings, but not
also on w e ekday afterno ons, w e ekends, and holidays. The price was r e co de d in such a way that if the price
is pr esente d, this is lab ele d as 1, and if the price is not pr esente d, the lab el is 0. All four price variables ( e .g.,
on w e ekdays mornings, on w e ekday afterno ons, on w e ekends, during holidays) ar e r e cor de d in this manner ,
the inde x is calculate d as the sum of four r e co de d variables.
Sour ces : 𝑌 1
= SURS ( 2021 ); 𝑌 2
– 𝑌 4
= K o vač et al. ( 2022 ).
SURS, 2023a , 2023c ) such as an aging inde x, mean age in p ersons, r egister e d unemplo yment
rate , av erage monthly net earnings, and municipal de v elopment inde x. All data w er e
matche d as closely as p ossible to so cial home car e data in terms of the time of the data
colle ction.
The variables assessing institutional car e ar e measur e d at differ ent aggr egation le v els
than so cial home car e . Thus, instead of municipalities, w e discuss administrativ e units
(Ministr y of Public A dministration of the Republic of Slo v enia [MP ARS], 2023 ) and institu-
tional car e pr o vide d acr oss those units. T o the b est of our kno wle dge , data describing the
characteristics of administrativ e units in terms of de v elopment and other characteristics, like
aging of the p opulation, ar e not available in a form that w ould actually link the r esidents’
characteristics to the municipalities the y pr e viously r eside d in, and to larger administra-
tiv e units. The matching of the characteristics of administrativ e units to actual r esidents’
r e cipients of institutional car e do es not make much sense since v er y often urgency , an
onset of illness, pr e ce des the placement in institutional car e outside of the municipality or
administrativ e unit the user is r esiding in. The dep endent variables use d in the analysis of
institutional car e ar e pr esente d in T able 3 .
The metho d of analysis was hierar chical cluster analysis base d on a sear ch for the
similarities and dissimilarities of units (municipality and administrativ e units). Hierar chical
cluster analysis was sele cte d since the numb er of clusters was not kno wn in advance for
either so cial home car e or institutional car e facilities. This is an e xplorator y analysis, and
the numb er of clusters is a r esult of the analysis as w ell as the comp osition of the clusters.

A nalysis of the national structur e of car e pr o vide d to older p e ople 179
T able 2. Characteristics of municipalities and r esidents in a municipality
Lab el V ariable name and description
𝑋 1
Name : A ging inde x
a
Description : The aging inde x is the ratio b etw e en the old p opulation ( age d 65 y ears and
o v er ) and the y oung p opulation ( age d 0–14 y ears), multiplie d by 100.
𝑋 2
Name : Mean age of p ersons
b
Description : The mean age of p ersons at giv en e v ents or time cr oss-se ctions is a w eighte d
arithmetic mean of the age of a giv en gr oup of the p opulation. W e calculate it fr om
absolute data. In the calculation, w e consider the means of age classes as w eights.
𝑋 3
Name : Register e d unemplo yment rate
c
Description : Is define d as the numb er of unemplo y e d as a p er centage of the activ e p opula-
tion wher e the activ e p opulation consists of the numb er of p e ople in emplo yment and the
numb er of unemplo y e d.
𝑋 4
Name : A v erage monthly net earnings
d
Description : A v erage monthly net earnings ar e av erage monthly amounts in eur os paid
out to p ersons in paid emplo yment by legal p ersons for w orking full time , part-time ,
o v ertime and non-r efunde d wage comp ensation fr om emplo y er r esour ces, less so cial
se curity contributions and advance on income tax.
𝑋 5
Name : Municipal de v elopment co efficients
e
Description : A municipality’s de v elopment co efficient is the ratio of the arithmetic mean
of the standar dize d values of the indicators in the municipality to the arithmetic mean of
the standar dize d values of the indicators in the countr y , wher e the av erage de v elopment
co efficient of municipalities in the countr y is 1.00 . The municipality’s de v elopment
co efficient is r ounde d up to tw o de cimal places.
a
A geing inde x, calculate d on Januar 1, 2023.
b
Mean age of p ersons, written in y ears and calculate d on Januar y 1, 2023.
c
Calculate d av erage of the r egister e d unemplo yment rate for the y ear 2023.
d
A v erage monthly net earnings, calculate d for the y ear 2022.
e
Municipal de v elopment co efficients, calculate d for the y ears 2022 and 2023.
Sour ces : 𝑋 1
= SURS ( 2023a ); 𝑋 2
= SURS ( 2023c ); 𝑋 3
= ESS ( 2023 ); 𝑋 4
= SURS ( 2023b ); 𝑋 5
= MFRS ( 2023 ).
T able 3. A ssessing institutional car e
Lab el V ariable name and description
𝑋 1
Name : The numb er of old p e ople ’s homes
Description : Numb er of all homes in the administrativ e ar ea with places for the car e of
older p e ople (par ent and branch offices).
𝑋 2
Name : The numb er of places in old p e ople ’s homes
Description : Numb er of older p e ople car e places; only older p e ople car e places ar e include d
in “ combine d” .
𝑋 3
Name : P laces ar e sufficient for p er centage of the gr oup
Description : Shar e (%) of the p opulation age d 65+ for which the e xisting numb er of older
p e ople car e places is sufficient.
𝑋 4
Name : Differ ence in the numb er of places
Description : Differ ence b etw e en the target and actual numb er of places ( 4.8 % co v erage of
the target gr oup).
Sour ce : SURS ( 2023a ).

180 Hleb e c and Hurtado Monarr es
The squar e d Euclidean distance was use d as the dissimilarity metric with 𝑧 -standar dize d
variables, follo w e d by the application of W ar d’s clustering algorithm (Ferligoj, 1989 ). A
dendr ogram was use d to determine the numb er of clusters. A simple analysis of means
was use d to obser v e differ ences in clusters with r egar d to cluster variables and indep endent
variables. Ljubljana and Marib or w er e e xclude d fr om the so cial home car e analysis as the y
differ significantly fr om the other municipalities. Analysis acr oss administrativ e units for
institutional car e was p erforme d separately fr om so cial home car e acr oss municipalities as
the data w er e measur e d acr oss differ ent ge ographical units, as e xplaine d ab o v e .
3. Results
The first series of analysis was p erforme d for so cial home car e acr oss municipalities, with
Ljubljana and Marib or e xclude d fr om cluster analysis as their data ar e e xtr eme outliers
in terms of the numb er of users and other parameters. The tw o municipalities e xclude d
ar e pr esente d on the last r o w in the r esults as separate analysis was conducte d for those
tw o municipalities. Se v eral solutions (thr e e- and four-cluster ) w er e e xamine d, although
four-cluster solutions gav e insight into various quality parameters of so cial home car e . The
r esults ar e pr esente d in T able 4 .
T able 4. Results of cluster analysis on the so cial home car e indicators
Cluster 𝑛 Sum. 𝑌 1
𝑌 2
𝑌 3
𝑌 4
#1 19
M 6097.26 192.74 5.92 3.84
SD 2509.93 92.89 1.44 0.69
#2 102
M 1513.91 39.11 5.28 4.00
SD 1134.10 28.69 0.92 0.00
#3 46
M 1154.24 30.37 5.51 1.11
SD 913.03 24.52 1.39 0.38
#4 38
M 721.82 18.45 8.44 4.00
SD 431.84 20.20 0.88 0.00
T otal 205
M 1711.18 47.56 5.97 3.34
SD 1863.82 59.99 1.61 1.23
Exclude d 2
M 42 274.00 981.50 4.86 4.00
SD 22 583.58 470.23 0.64 0.00
Legend : Cluster = cluster ID; 𝑛 = cluster size; Sum. = summar y statistics. For
variable names se e T able 1 .
The clusters of municipalities ar e or der e d by the numb er of inhabitants age d 65+ and
the numb er of so cial home car e users age d 65+. The first tw o clusters differ mostly in terms
of affor dability . The out-of-p o cket contribution for so cial home car e is € 5.9 p er hour in the
first cluster and € 5.3 in the se cond one , allo wing us to say that affor dability is b etter in the
se cond cluster than in the first. These tw o clusters do not var y significantly in terms of
temp oral availability b e cause in b oth clusters so cial home car e is available at most times
( w e ekdays, w e ekends, holidays). The thir d cluster has a smaller numb er of r esidents age d
65+ and users of so cial home car e age d 65+ than the first tw o clusters, the affor dability is
go o d (€ 5.5 ), y et the temp oral availability is p o or . Namely , so cial home car e is only available
on w e ekdays. The fourth cluster has the smallest numb er of r esidents age d 65+ and smallest

A nalysis of the national structur e of car e pr o vide d to older p e ople 181
numb er of so cial home car e users age d 65+ with full temp oral availability . Ho w e v er , the
affor dability is p o or as the av erage out-of-p o cket contribution p er hour is as high as € 8.4 .
Regar ding indep endent variables (T able 5 ) measuring the de v elopment of municipali-
ties and the material w ell-b eing of inhabitants, the first cluster is on av erage the richest.
Namely , the highest av erage net income (€ 1272.51 ) is couple d with the highest de v elop-
ment co efficient ( 1088 ), but also with the se cond-highest unemplo yment rate and an aging
inde x sho wing an av erage age of 44.3 y ears. The se cond cluster of municipalities has v er y
fav orable parameters in the so cial home car e analysis y et is less de v elop e d in terms of the
parameters in T able 5 . Namely , the av erage net income is some what lo w er than in cluster 1
(€ 1180.05 ) but the rate of unemplo yment is a little lo w er than in cluster 1 ( 4.56 ), the value of
the de v elopment co efficient is ab o v e 1, but lo w er than for cluster 1 ( 1.01 ). The av erage age
is similar to cluster 1. Cluster 3, which had the lo w est temp oral availability of so cial home
car e , is in most parameters v er y similar to cluster 2, e xcept in a lo w er unemplo yment rate
( 4.18 ) and de v elopment inde x, which is b elo w 1 y et v er y similar to cluster 2. Cluster 4 has
the highest av erage out-of-p o cket contribution for so cial home car e , as w ell as the highest
av erage unemplo yment rate ( 5.58 ), lo w est net income (€ 1167.98 ), the highest p opulation
aging inde x ( 160.79 ), the highest av erage age ( 44.74 ), and the lo w est de v elopment inde x
( 0.94 ).
T able 5. Measuring the de v elopment of municipalities and material w ell-b eing of
inhabitants acr oss the clusters
Cluster 𝑛 Sum. 𝑋 1
𝑋 2
𝑋 3
𝑋 4
𝑋 5
#1 17–19
M 5.25 1272.51 149.51 44.28 1.09
SD 1.80 82.36 32.47 1.64 0.10
#2 87–102
M 4.56 1180.05 146.93 44.38 1.01
SD 1.79 90.09 29.95 1.72 0.12
#3 39–46
M 4.18 1180.87 145.10 43.91 1.00
SD 1.74 91.71 60.36 2.73 0.19
#4 38
M 5.58 1167.98 160.79 44.74 0.94
SD 2.06 111.31 48.84 2.08 0.17
T otal 181–205
M 4.76 1186.60 149.33 44.33 1.00
SD 1.89 97.49 42.48 2.05 0.15
Exclude d 2
M 6.65 1376.98 163.85 44.05 1.10
SD 1.77 170.54 31.89 1.63 0.16
Legend: Cluster = cluster ID; 𝑛 = cluster size; Sum. = summar y statistics. For variable names
se e T able 2 .
The se cond series of analysis was p erforme d for institutional car e facilities acr oss
administrativ e units. Se v eral solutions (thr e e- and four-cluster ) w er e e xamine d in the
dendr ogram, although the thr e e-cluster solution se ems the most informativ e . The r esults
ar e pr esente d in T able 6 . Ther e ar e tw o clusters (1 and 2) wher e the numb er of placements is
ar ound 4 % of the p opulation age d 65+. The first cluster comprises eight administrativ e units
wher e ther e ar e 10 institutional facilities on av erage and the numb er of available placements
is v er y high ( 1509.25 on av erage). Ne v ertheless, giv en the differ ence in the numb er of
placements, ther e is still a lack of placements wher e r esidents of these administrativ e units

182 Hleb e c and Hurtado Monarr es
ar e concerne d. The se cond cluster contains 39 administrativ e units wher e one finds ab out
1.7 institutional facilities and a lack of placements r emains e vident ( 235.54 on av erage).
The thir d cluster comprises 10 administrativ e units with 1.7 facilities on av erage , ho w e v er ,
the y ar e sufficient for 7.6 % of the eligible p opulation and ther e is a surplus of available
placements ( 238.70 on av erage).
T able 6. Results of hierar chical cluster analysis acr oss institutional
car e facilities
Cluster 𝑛 Sum. 𝑋 1
𝑋 2
𝑋 3
𝑋 4
#1 8
M 10.00 1509.25 4.01 −186.13
SD 2.83 663.66 0.31 147.75
#2 39
M 1.67 235.54 3.99 −29.95
SD 1.01 132.10 1.02 48.50
#3 10
M 1.70 238.70 7.62 89.20
SD 0.48 45.99 2.12 37.63
T otal 57
M 2.84 414.86 4.63 −30.96
SD 3.20 516.02 1.84 102.82
Notes : Cluster = cluster ID; 𝑛 = cluster size; Sum. = summar y statistics. For
variable names se e T able 3 .
4. Discussion and conclusions
The purp ose of this study was to r e-e xamine the conse quences held by the go v erning
structur e for car e deliv er y in Slo v enia. Mor e sp e cifically , w e w er e inter este d in establishing
whether the r esults of pr e vious studies on so cial home car e (Hleb e c, 2013a ; Hleb e c et al.,
2014 ) and institutional car e (Hleb e c, 2013b ; Hleb e c et al., 2014 ) deliv er y ar e still r ele vant
in Slo v enia. Significant disparities w er e obser v e d in the accessibility of so cial home car e
and institutional car e . Ther e ar e arguments in fav or of ensuring that the organization and
financing of so cial home car e and institutional car e ar e linke d to the place of r esidence of
an older p erson giv en that ge ographical pr o ximity r e duces the costs of so cial home car e
deliv er y and allo ws older p e ople to r emain living in the community of their r esidence ,
making this in itself v er y b eneficial. Nonetheless, the organization and financing of car e
“by p ost co de ” is ine vitably the cause of ine quality among older p e ople and their families
in terms of out-of-p o cket contributions for so cial home car e , the temp oral availability of
so cial home car e , and the closeness of institutional car e facilities to the place of r esidence of
an older p erson.
Analysis of so cial home car e deliv er y was p erforme d on the le v el of municipalities.
The r esults suggest that although nearly 80 % of municipalities ( clusters 1, 2, and 3) ar e
to day offering r easonably price d so cial home car e (ranging b etw e en € 5.3 and € 5.9 ), 20 % of
municipalities still offer so cial home car e that is far mor e e xp ensiv e (€ 8.4 ). One w onders if
these ar e esp e cially affluent municipalities and r esidents can affor d e xp ensiv e so cial home
car e . After insp e cting the aging and de v elopment co efficients (T able 5 ), w e obser v e that,
in fact, this is quite the opp osite . Cluster 4 r epr esents, on av erage , the p o or est cluster of
municipalities with the highest p opulation aging ( 160.8 ) and av erage age ( 44.7 ) as w ell as
the lo w est av erage net income (€ 1167.9 ), and highest unemplo yment rate ( 5.6 ). Thus, the
highest av erage out-of-p o cket contributions for so cial home car e ar e on av erage r e quir e d

A nalysis of the national structur e of car e pr o vide d to older p e ople 183
in the p o or est municipalities and wher e the ne e d for supp ort for p e ople aging in place
w ould b e the highest accor ding to the aging inde x. In the absence of any guidelines ( apart
fr om at least 50 % ) on ho w to determine the e xact sum of out-of-p o cket contribution for
so cial home car e , the de cision on this is left to curr ent municipality officials. And this is
ho w the “p ost co de ” organization of so cial home car e translates to actual car e pr o vision
and car e usage . One w onders whether old p e ople should and w ould mo v e houses to se ek
r esidency in municipalities wher e the out-of-p o cket contribution for so cial home car e is
mor e r easonable , or not? In Slo v enia, this is highly unlikely b e cause it is a countr y wher e
home o wnership of the pr op erty one is living in is a cultural norm and a r eality and the
costs of mo ving w ould easily e xce e d the b enefits obtaine d by the mone y sav e d with so cial
home car e use (Hleb e c et al., 2010 ). Comparing the r esults of this study to pr e vious analyses
(Hleb e c, 2012 , 2013a ; Hleb e c et al., 2014 ) r e v eals pr ogr ess has b e en made in terms of le v elling
up the variability in the pricing of so cial home car e . Unfortunately , the cor e issue with the
“p ost co de ” organization of car e is still r ele vant and in fact unchangeable unless a structural
change is made by the go v erning b o dies r esp onsible for de cision-making on long-term car e .
The se cond issue is the temp oral availability of so cial home car e acr oss the whole w e ek
as it is r easonably go o d for only thr e e-quarters of municipalities (T able 4 ). The r emaining
46 municipalities in cluster 3 on av erage offer so cial home car e only on w e ekdays. These
municipalities hav e r easonably price d so cial home car e (€ 5.5 on av erage on w e ekdays)
and a r elativ ely small numb er of users ( 30.4 on av erage). The cluster 3 municipalities
(T able 5 ) on av erage hav e the lo w est aging inde x ( 145.10 ), av erage age ( 43.9 ) and lo w est
unemplo yment inde x. The mean net income is close to the av erage net income of the
cluster 2 municipalities (€ 1180.05 ) and de v elopment co efficient ( 1.01 ). It is v er y difficult to
ascertain why so cial home car e is not offer e d acr oss the whole w e ek. One could guess that
this is due to organizational issues as these municipalities w ould hav e 39 so cial home car e
users on av erage . Comparing the r esults of this study to earlier analyses of so cial home car e
(Hleb e c, 2012 , 2013a ; Hleb e c et al., 2014 ) again r e v eals pr ogr ess in terms of the temp oral
availability of so cial home car e . O v erall, while pr ogr ess has b e en made , this r efers to the
users of so cial home car e in those 46 municipalities.
The gap b etw e en the car e ne e de d and the car e offer e d—unmet ne e ds—is obser v e d in
SPIRS r ep orts as w ell. In 2021, at least 536 eligible p e ople wante d so cial home car e and did
not r e ceiv e it, and 230 curr ent users of so cial home car e who w ould ne e d an e xtra 5.9 hours
of so cial home car e p er w e ek on av erage (K o vač et al., 2022 ). SPIRS also de clar es that those
unmet ne e ds ar e not only curr ent but hav e b e en an issue for se v eral y ears. The r easons for
the unmet car e ar e fairly comple x, ranging fr om the affor dability (users w ould ne e d mor e
car e but cannot affor d it) to the temp oral availability of so cial home car e ( so cial home car e
is ne e de d at times when it is not offer e d), and organizational (the numb er of formal car ers
is insufficient for pr esent ne e ds). The most challenging is the temp oral comp onent of ho w
much car e is offer e d at a maximum—up to 40 hours p er w e ek and ther e ar e users of so cial
home car e who r e quir e mor e hours than this. The unmet ne e ds ar e substantial accor ding
to a r e cent SHARE study (Hleb e c et al., 2016 ) and among other sour ces of unmet ne e ds
ar e r elate d to the characteristics of the community setting. The affor dability and temp oral
availability of so cial home car e ar e just as r ele vant as ke y issues concerning so cial home
car e accessibility as in the past (Hleb e c, 2018 , 2020 ; Hleb e c & Filip o vič Hrast, 2015 ).
The institutional car e facilities ar e r egulate d on the le v el of administrativ e units that ar e
not congruent with municipalities. Ther efor e , the analysis of institutional car e facilities was
separate d fr om the analysis of so cial home car e , and hierar chical clustering was p erforme d
on the le v el of administrativ e units that ar e not supp orte d with other indicators like a

184 Hleb e c and Hurtado Monarr es
de v elopment inde x. This le d to only the data analysis ab out institutional car e facilities
b eing conducte d. W e unco v er e d thr e e clusters, which differ with r egar d to the numb ers of
institutional facilities, p er centages of p opulation co v er e d, and lack of placements. In terms
of differ ences acr oss clusters, ther e se em to b e variations mostly in the numb er of placements
ne e de d for the target p er centage of the p opulation to b e se cur e d with institutional car e and
the numb er of institutional car e facilities. Ther e ar e thr e e clusters, one with a smaller numb er
of institutional car e facilities, and the se cond one with a larger numb er of institutional car e
facilities with a lack of placements, while ther e is a thir d cluster with a smaller numb er of
institutional car e facilities and a surplus of placements. It is v er y har d to determine ho w
meaningful these r esults ar e in terms of what the y imp ose on older p e ople and their families.
Compar e d with pr e vious studies (Hleb e c, 2013b ; Hleb e c et al., 2014 ) wher e information
linking individual r esidents to their original municipality of origin was available , w e can
say that the curr ent study lacks pr e cise information that w ould allo w us to make detaile d
and mor e pr e cise analyses. W e thus cannot say much ab out the distribution of institutional
car e and the conse quences this holds for b oth p e ople using institutional car e and their lo v e d
ones.
This study offers inter esting ne w information ab out ho w so cial home car e is e v olving and
confirms that the tw o most imp ortant shortcomings—affor dability and temp oral availability—
ar e still r ele vant issues will continue to b e so unless the structur e of go v erning is change d
to pr e v ent variability in the out-of-p o cket contributions of users and with r esp e ct to when
the car e is actually offer e d to users. Ther e is still the question of curr ent users who w ould
ne e d mor e car e , but this is not available either due to insufficient supply o wing to a lack of
so cial home car e w orkers or by the time limits imp ose d b e cause of the legislation in place .
In terms of institutional car e , w e ar e awar e that the pr esent study is less than p erfe ct, but
this is cause d by the lack of available data and the missing ability to link b oth typ es of car e
to municipality settings. A ssessing typ es of car e offer e d on differ ent le v els of e valuation
pr e v ents us fr om monitoring b oth typ es of car e at once .
Funding
This w ork was supp orte d by the Slo v enian Resear ch and Inno vation A gency as part of the
r esear ch pr oje ct Long- T erm Car e for Pe ople with Dementia in So cial W ork The or y and
Practice ( Grant No . J5-2567).
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