

Carolina Nordlinders’ area of research is within social work. The population in Nordlinders’ study consists of older long-term care workers, e.g., nurses, personal care workers, care managers, and unit managers. The PhD-project is critical social gerontology. Nordlinders’ area of interest is social-political and justice.
The overarching aim of the PhD project is to study older workers’ intended retirement timing and its association with health, family- and work-related factors. The following research questions (RQ) will help answer the aim:
1) Which factors are associated with intended retirement timing among older LTC workers?
2) Which health, family- and work-related factors are associated with intended retirement timing?
3) Which health, family- and work-related factors predict older workers’ intended retirement timing?
4) Does older workers’ intended retirement timing vary over time and between different LTC occupations?
RQ 1 will be answered by a systematic review, RQ2 will be answered by a cross-sectional study, and RQ3-4 will be answered using two longitudinal studies. RQ 2-4 will use data from The Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Study on Health (SLOSH).
The first on-site Swetaly workshop in Gothenburg, June 13-15 2022
Intended Retirement Timing–A Study of Older (45+) Workers in Long-Term Care (LTC)
Intended Retirement Timing – A Study of Older (+45) Workers in Long-Term Care (LTC)
Most countries will expect a shortage of LTC workers as the proportion of older adults in need of care increase. An extended working life among older LTC workers is considered a key solution to prevent this future labor force shortage. However, the opportunity to extend working life is unequally distributed within different occupational sectors. Workers with physically demanding tasks, as in the LTC sector, tend to retire early and older LTC workers’ preferred age to exit from working life (intended retirement timing) do not necessarily correspond with political aims of postponing retirement.
The body of research on older workers’ labor market participation is extensive. However, older workers in low skilled and low paid jobs (like long-term care) have been neglected in research, and the knowledge of factors influencing their intentions to continue or stop working is scarce. This thesis will contribute knowledge on older LTC workers’ intended retirement timing.
Aim
The overarching aim of the PhD-project is to study older workers’ LTC intended retirement timing, and its association with health, family- and work-related factors.
Methods
The data consists of a systematic review of previous research and quantitative (cross-sectional and longitudinal) data from the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Study on Health (SLOSH).
Result
Preliminary results from the systematic review will be presented.