The chapter analyses pre-pandemic long-term care trends based on OECD statistics. Developments of the 2010s in residential and home care are examined and compared in 19 OECD countries, focusing on trends in coverage of these services in the 80+ age group. Results show that several countries that have been early pioneers of long-term care have recently cut down their service coverage, moving towards ‘the uncaring state’, while other countries that have previously been slower in developing their care systems made considerable progress in the 2010s, moving towards ‘the caring state’. The chapter ends by urging researchers and international organisations to complement available data on formal care by building up international longitudinal datasets on informal care and unmet care needs. To understand care systems in their entirety and to develop knowledge-based policies, trend data are needed of each of these three ways in which older people’s care needs are (un)addressed.

This chapter discusses the situation of older persons with disabilities in Finland from the viewpoint of personal experiences, focusing on in/dependence. Older persons with disabilities tend to be overlooked in both disability and ageing policies while there is little bridging between these policies and key concepts used in the policies. This chapter goes deeper into the conceptual issues at the intersection and analyses texts written by 19 older persons with disabilities in Finland with a focus on in/dependence. According to the data, in/dependence seems to mean different things: for some participants, independence could be achieved through support from others, whereas other participants saw asking for help as a failure to be independent – although inevitable in old age. The different understandings of in/dependence can make it harder to ask for help and support, which may add to older persons with disabilities falling through the service system’s safety net. By analysing the conceptual confusion surrounding in/dependence, this chapter contributes to filling some of the conceptual gaps observed between policies and research on ageing and disability.

In later life, digital support is predominantly received outside of formal education from warm experts such as children, grandchildren, and friends. However, as not everyone can rely on this kind of informal help, many older adults are at risk of being unwillingly left without digital support and necessary digital skills. In this article, we examine non-formal digital support and peer tutoring as a way to promote digital and social inclusion through the acquisition of necessary digital skills. First, we ask: (a) What is peer tutoring, in the field of digital training, from the peer tutors’ point of view? Then, based on the first research question, we further ask (b) what are the key characteristics of peer tutoring in relation to other forms of digital support? Our thematic analysis is based on semi-structured interviews ( n = 21) conducted in Central Finland in 2022 with peer tutors aged between 63 and 84. Peer tutors offered individual guidance by appointment and also supported their peers in group-based settings. Based on our study, we argue that from the peer tutors’ point of view, being a peer entails sharing an age group or a similar life situation and provides an opportunity for side-by-side learning. Although every encounter as a peer tutor is different and the spectrum of digital support is wide, these encounters share specific key characteristics, such as the experience of equality between the tutor and the tutee that distinguishes non-formal peer support from formal and informal learning.

A lack of social support can hinder older adults’ digital inclusion. This chapter examines the connection between social and digital inclusion by focusing on the process of acquiring social support for digital technology use among older adults in Finland. Building on the concept of warm expert, the chapter shows that acquiring support for digital technology use is a reciprocal process that both enhances and requires digital inclusion. A qualitative analysis of 22 participant-induced elicitation interviews was conducted with older adults aged between 57 and 89. The chapter shows that social support reinforces digital inclusion by (a) ensuring older adults’ access to technology, (b) catering for their positive approach towards technology and (c) improving their skills to use technology independently. The connection between social and digital inclusion also operates the other way round. Digital inclusion is required to gain social support that is more readily at hand in a technology-mediated manner.KeywordsDigital skillsElicitationOlder adultsSocial inclusionSocial supportWarm expert