Health care services for older people in COVID-19 pandemic times – A Nordic comparison

Figures & data

Figure 1. Daily new confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths per million people from March 1st 2020 to July 19th 2021, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden. (https://ourworldindata.org). Survey 1 = Survey 1 data collection period (2020). Survey 2 = Survey 2 data collection period (2021).

Figure 2. Perceived promotion of health and promotion of social life by country (2020 = survey 1, and 2021 = survey 2).

Table 1. Estimation of country-level marginal means.

	Means and 95% confidence intervals
	Less able to promote social and active life	Less able to promote physical and mental health
Denmark	3.54 [3.42–3.66]	2.86 [2.75–2.97]
Finland	4.86 [4.64–5.07]	4.24 [4.04–4.44]
Norway	4.18 [3.97–4.38]	3.56 [3.36–3.75]
Sweden	4.28 [4.02–4.49]	3.70 [3.48–3.91]
Grand Mean	4.21 [4.12–4.30]	3.59 [3.50–3.68]

Estimated at the mean values for covariates and factors with the regression models reported in Table 3.

Table 2. Sum of contagion cases among staff or citizens reported by managers (2020 = survey 1, and 2021 = survey 2).

		Managers’ reporting C19 contagion cases among staff or users/clients
	N (answered question)	Reported C19 cases %	Mean of cases reported	Median	Std. Dev	Min	Max
2020
1 Denmark	721	40% (N = 291)	5.7	3	8.23	1	71
2 Finland	235	20% (N = 48)	5.4	1	6.85	1	27
3 Norway	239	26% (N = 62)	5.0	2	7.56	1	35
4 Sweden	275	73% (N = 202)	11.8	5	23.82	1	228
Total	1470	41% (N = 603)	7.7	3	15.56	1	228
2021
1 Denmark	404	83% (N = 336)	13.1	6	19.86	1	127
2 Finland	111	40% (N = 45)	5.5	2	7.56	1	31
3 Norway	149	58% (N = 86)	8.5	2	24.32	1	195
4 Sweden	81	97% (N = 79)	24.1	12	31.85	1	220
Total	745	73% (N = 546)	13.4	5	22.58	1	220

Table 3. OLS regressions.

	Less able to promote social and active life	Less able to promote physical and mental health
Intercept	4.80**	3.86**
C19 (dummy, 1 = outbreak)	0.35**	0.34**
Size of unit (Full time employed, LN)	−0.06	−0.06
Service (home care = ref.)
Nursing home	−0.74**	−0.43**
Nursing home and home care	−0.36*	−0.29*
Prevention I (org. changes)	−0.11†	−0.02
Prevention II (lockdown)	0.11*	0.14**
Prevention III (test residents)	−0.05	−0.06
Survey year (dummy, 1 = 2021)	−0.11	0.03
Country (Sweden = ref)
Denmark	−0.72**	−0.83**
Finland	0.60**	0.55**
Norway	−0.08	−0.14
Model summary
N	1800	1796
R^2/Adj. R^2	0.11/0.10	0.11/0.10
White’s test	χ^2(66) = 91.15*	χ^2(66) = 76.38

Results reported with unstandardized beta-coefficients (B) and robust estimation (HC3) of p-values (p).

† p ≤ .1, * p ≤ .05, ** p ≤ .01.

Table A1. Country-level OLS regression.

Less able to promote social and active life
	DK	F	N	S
Intercept	3.98**	4.90**	4.51**	5.73**
C19 (dummy, 1 = outbreak)	0.29*	0.64**	0.22	−0.03
Size of unit (Full time employed, LN)	0.05	−0.03	−0.07	−0.32**
Service (home care = ref.)
Nursing home	−1.12**	−0.40	−0.23	−0.36
Nursing home and home care	−0.91**	−0.29	0.09	−0.02
Prevention I (org. changes)	−0.10†	0.07	−0.09	−0.35**
Prevention II (lockdown)	0.13†	0.08	0.10	0.18
Prevention III (test residents)	0.03	−0.20†	−0.12	0.15
Survey year (dummy, 1 = 2021)	−0.08	−0.06	−0.23	0.28
Model summary
N	902	298	323	277
R^2/Adj. R^2	0.09/0.08	0.06/0.03	0.02/0.00	0.07/0.04
White’s test	χ^2(39) = 41.55	χ^2(39) = 28.12	χ^2(39) = 24.82	χ^2(39) = 37.28
Less able to promote physical and mental health
	DK	F	N	S
Intercept	2.76**	4.41**	3.58**	4.69**
C19 (dummy, 1 = outbreak)	0.35*	0.66**	0.10	−0.04
Size of unit (Full time employed, LN)	0.08	−0.03	−0.07	−0.31**
Service (home care = ref.)
Nursing home	−0.66**	−0.48*	−0.15	−0.19
Nursing home and home care	−0.74**	−0.68*	0.19	−0.00
Prevention I (org. changes)	−0.09	0.08	0.10	−0.15
Prevention II (lockdown)	0.14*	0.08	0.06	0.25*
Prevention III (test residents)	0.00	−0.18	−0.15	0.02
Survey year (dummy, 1 = 2021)	−0.01	−0.12	0.10	0.49†
Model summary
N	898	298	322	278
R^2/Adj. R^2	0.05/0.04	0.08/0.05	0.03/0.00	0.05/0.02
White’s test (for heteroskedasticity)	χ^2(39) = 47.13	χ^2(39) = 35.30	χ^2(39) = 31.36	χ^2(39) = 37.07

Results reported with unstandardized beta-coefficients (B) and robust estimation (HC3) of p-values (p).

† p ≤ .1, * p ≤ .05, ** p ≤ .01.

Table A2. Descriptive statistics.

	Denmark				Finland				Norway				Sweden
Variable	N	Mean/%	Sd.	Min Max	N	Mean/%	Sd.	Min Max	N	Mean/%	Sd.	Min Max	N	Mean/%	Sd.	Min Max
Performance 1	1018	2.90	1.69	1–7	341	4.22	1.645	1–7	349	3.51	1.555	1–7	363	3.79	1.77	1–7
Performance 2	1028	3.58	1.87	1–7	341	4.84	1.648	1–7	350	4.18	1.66	1–7	362	4.35	1.86	1–7
Contagion cases (survey 1 + 2)	1121	5,41	12.89	0–127	345	1.47	4.43	0–31	386	2.69	12.35	0–195	358	13.11	34.71	0–478
Service type home care (=ref) nursing home both services	1361	40% 56% 4%		0–2	398	18% 52% 30%		0–2	459	20% 39% 41%		0–2	557	33% 46% 21%		0–2
Size of unit (FTE)^a	1277	55.04	56.30	0–1000	410	115.34	221.07	0–2000	478	139.78	288.95	0–4000	518	67.64	256.10	0–3500
Prevention measure 1: Organizational change	1119	1.96	1.08	0–3	357	1.91		0–3	381	1.91		0–3	405	2.10	1.07	0–3
Prevention measure 2: Lockdown	1106	1.49	1.12	0–3	360	1.64		0–3	380	1.60		0–3	392	1.72	1.11	0–3
Prevention measure 3: Test residents	1092	1.31	0.99	0–3	358	0.74		0–3	379	0.76		0–3	389	1.99	1.12	0–3
Survey 2020 = 0 2021 = 1	1413	61% 39%		0–1	495	65% 35%		0–1	615	56% 44%		0–1	615	70% 30%		0–1

^aIn total 32 respondents (1.2% of 2696 valid cases) across all countries and both years have reported the value zero.

Table A3. Characteristics of respondents in sample, by year and country.

Variable	Denmark		Finland		Norway		Sweden		Total
	2020	2021	2020	2021	2020	2021	2020	2021	2020	2021
	Mean/ % (Sd)	Mean/% (Sd)	Mean/% (Sd)	Mean/% (Sd)	Mean/% (Sd)	Mean/% (Sd)	Mean/% (Sd)	Mean/% (Sd)	Mean/% (Sd)	Mean/% (Sd)
Sex woman = 0, man = 1	94% 6% (N = 860)	93% 7% (N = 553)	97% 3% (N = 321)	97% 3% (N = 174)	88% 12% (N = 343)	87% 13% (N = 272)	90% 10% (N = 431)	87% 13% (N = 184)	93% 7% (N = 1955)	91% 9% (N = 1183)
Age	53.1 (8.2) (N = 850)	54.9 (7.8) (N = 547)	50.2 (8.9) (N = 314)	51.6 (8.7) (N = 169)	50.9 (8.7) (N = 338)	53.0 (8.2) (N = 267)	49.8 (10.0) (N = 427)	50.3 (8.8) (N = 182)	51.5 (8.9) (N = 1929)	53.3 (8.4) (N = 1165)
Education level (1 to 5)	3.1 (0.9) (N = 805)	3.0 (0.8) (N = 506)	4.2 (0.9) (N = 277)	4.5 (0.9) (N = 135)	4.0 (0.8) (N = 279)	3.8 (0.8) (N = 198)	3.5 (1.0) (N = 389)	3.2 (0.9) (N = 150)	3.5 (1.0) (N = 1750)	3.4 (1.0) (N = 989)
Eldercare total tenure (years)	20.9 (10.8) (N = 840)	21.3 (10.9) (N = 528)	18.3 (9.9) (N = 290)	18.0 (9.6) (N = 145)	20.8 (10.0) (N = 282)	19.4 (10.9) (N = 212)	18.1 (12.0) (N = 400)	17.6 (11.6) (N = 165)	19.8 (10.9) (N = 1812)	19.9 (10.9) (N = 1050)

The N’s refers to valid responses on the questions. N varies due to different nonresponse rates on different questions.