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Living Alone in the United States and Europe: The Impact of Public Support on the Independence of Older Adults.

ABSTRACT: While we know that living alone is often associated with greater risk of financial hardship, we have limited knowledge on the possible link between the availability of public support and independent living. We use data from the 2014 Health and Retirement Study and the 2011-2015 Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe to compare income and wealth profiles of the population aged 60 and above who are living alone in the United States and 19 European countries. We find that the likelihood of living alone is higher in generous welfare states, with social support and spending both positively associated with living alone. The relationship between personal resources and living alone has a smaller positive gradient in countries with robust welfare systems. The lack of adequate public support in less generous welfare states may constrain the ability of many low-income older adults without a partner to continue living independently.

SUBMITTER: Mudrazija S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10782838 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun-Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Living Alone in the United States and Europe: The Impact of Public Support on the Independence of Older Adults.

Mudrazija Stipica S Angel Jacqueline L JL Cipin Ivan I Smolic Sime S

Research on aging 20200301 5-6

While we know that living alone is often associated with greater risk of financial hardship, we have limited knowledge on the possible link between the availability of public support and independent living. We use data from the 2014 Health and Retirement Study and the 2011-2015 Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe to compare income and wealth profiles of the population aged 60 and above who are living alone in the United States and 19 European countries. We find that the likelihood ...[more]

PMID: 32116111

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Project description:BackgroundTo reduce health disparities, prevention of non-communicable diseases (NCD) by performing desirable health behavior in older adults living alone with low socioeconomic status is an essential strategy in public health. Self-perception of personal power and practical skills for daily health are key elements of desirable health behavior. However, methods for measuring these concepts have not been established. This study aimed to develop a health behavior scale for older adults living alone receiving public assistance (HBSO).MethodsThe self-administered mail survey covered 2818 older adults living alone receiving public assistance (OAP) randomly selected from the list of people receiving public assistance (Seikatsu-hogo in Japanese) at all 1250 local social welfare offices across Japan. Construct validity was confirmed using confirmatory factor analysis. Internal consistency was calculated using Cronbach's alpha. The self-efficacy for health promotion scale and Health check-up status were administered to assess the criteria-related validity of the HBSO.ResultsIn total, 1280 participants (response rate: 45.4%) responded, of which 1069 (37.9%) provided valid responses. Confirmatory factor analysis identified 10 items from two factors (self-perception of personal power and practical skills for daily health) with a goodness of fit index of 0.973, adjusted goodness of fit index of 0.953, comparative fit index of 0.954, and root mean square error of approximation of 0.049. Cronbach's alpha was 0.75. The total HBSO score was significantly positively correlated with the self-efficacy for health promotion scale (r = 0.672, p < 0.001) and the group with health check-up had significantly higher HBSO scores than the group without it (p < 0.001).ConclusionsThe HBSO is an easy-to-self-administer instrument that is reliable and valid for OAP. The HBSO could facilitate appropriate assessment of OAP who need to improve their health behavior to prevent NCD, and could be used to determine effective support.

Project description:BackgroundOlder adults are encouraged to use Medical Visit Companions (MVCs) for routine medical encounters; however, many vulnerable older adults attend alone or fail to attend. In the absence of available family or friends, community volunteers could potentially fill this gap. We aimed to understand the role and acceptability of volunteer MVCs accompanying older adults to medical visits and explore potential barriers and facilitators of increasing MVC availability and expanding roles beyond transportation.MethodsTwo moderators conducted 4 focus groups with 29 volunteers grouped by whether they provided (n = 15) or received (n = 14) rides to medical visits. All were members of Partners In Care (PIC), a community organization in Maryland, United States which offers a range of programs and services that support the independence of older adults including the provision of volunteer MVCs. Participants were asked to discuss why they were involved with PIC, and to describe their experiences with providing or receiving companionship during medical visits. Inductive thematic analysis was used to explore the views and experiences of participants, particularly around the roles played by MVCs and the feasibility of expanding these roles.ResultsAll participants reported benefits from their role whether that was giving or receiving rides. Many accompanied participants reported missing medical appointments prior to joining PIC and being able to avail of the services of a MVC. Volunteer roles varied and ranged from transportation only, help with care coordination and in some cases accompanying the person into their medical visit. A subgroup of volunteers expressed a willingness to take on additional roles during the physician visit following additional training and isolated older adults welcomed the prospect of their assistance.ConclusionOur qualitative data indicate that non-family, volunteer MVCs are willing and able to assist older people going to a medical visit. With appropriate training and support, volunteer companions could do much to improve the healthcare experience for those who otherwise would attend alone or would not attend medical visits.

Dataset Information

Living Alone in the United States and Europe: The Impact of Public Support on the Independence of Older Adults.

Publications

Living Alone in the United States and Europe: The Impact of Public Support on the Independence of Older Adults.

Similar Datasets

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