 |
The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
|
The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Shu-Chuan Jennifer Yeh, PhD, RN, Institute of Human Resource Management, National Sun Yat-Sen University, 70 Lian-Hai Road, Kaohsiung, 80424, Taiwan, 011-886-7-525-2000 # 4934, syeh@cm.nsysu.edu.tw and Yea-Ying Liu, MS, RN, College of Nursing, Kaohsiung Medical University, C.S. 504, 100 Shih-Chuan 1st Road, Kaohsiung, 807, Taiwan.
Living alone is one of the most salient factors affecting well-being for elderly. The purposes of this study are to examine the predictors of being living alone in an elderly population as well as to study the effect of marital status and gender differences in predicting living alone. We used a cross-sectional stratified random sample of interviewing 4,993 elderly in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Whether a respondent lived alone or not was evaluated by a trained interviewer. Three indicators measured social support, including marital status, loneliness, and friendship. Control variables included ADL, IADLs, SPMSQ, demographic variables and comorbidities. Logistic regression was used to determine the predictors of being living alone. Around 9 percent of the elderly lived alone, 53.39% were men, 67.02% were married, 57.41% were Buddhism, and 18.71% had at least high school education. Our results found that married (Odds Ratio=0.07; 95% CI, 0.05-0.09), good friendship (Odds Ratio=0.72; 95%CI, 0.56-0.92), and higher IADL scores older adults (Odds Ratio=0.71; 95%CI, 0.61-0.84) are less likely to live alone. Comparing with white-collar elders, blue-collar workers (Odds Ratio=0.59; 95%CI, 0.35-0.99), farmer (Odds Ratio=0.39; 95%CI, 0.18-0.83), and housewife (Odds Ratio=0.57; 95%CI, 0.33-0.98) are less likely to live alone. Feeling lonely respondents are almost twice more likely to live alone. How to manage retirement life for adult olders, particularly for men, become very important. Increased social support can also be factored into life-style management for communities of elderly. Issues surrounding how to improve social activities and facilitate friendship for older adults in a community consequently become critical.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Long-Term Care, Healthy People 2000/2010
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.