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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Sabrina T. Wong, RN, PhD, Medical Effectiveness Research Center, University of California, San Francisco, 3333 California Stress, Room 335, Campus Mail P.O. Box 0856, San Francisco, CA 94118, 415-514-3355, sabrina@itsa.ucsf.edu, Grace J. Yoo, MPH, PhD, Asian American Studies, San Francisco State University, 1600 Holloway Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94132, and Anita L. Stewart, PhD, Institute for Health and Aging/Disability Statistics Center, University of California, San Francisco, 3333 California Street, Room 340, Campus Mail Box 0646, San Francisco, CA 94118.
Approximately 1 million Asian and Pacific Islanders are 65 years and older and this is expected to dramatically increase in the coming decades. Increasingly, we need to provide culturally sensitive and linguistically appropriate services to maintain these elders' quality of life and health status. However, little is known about who constitutes Asian elders' support network, what is considered to be appropriate social support, how need for support is communicated, and how needs are met. Additionally, existing measures were developed in white, mainstream populations and there is a lack of valid and reliable instruments. Accurately measuring the concept of social support has implications for the development of needed services. We conducted eight focus groups (4 Chinese, 4 Korean) to understand elders' conceptualization of social support. Elders were sampled from various community agencies and churches. Content analysis revealed that elders mainly relied on adult children to provide tangible, informational, and language/translation support. Elders felt they did not need emotional support but report interacting socially with their friends or church regularly. They received monetary support from the government and their adult children. Based on past research and focus group data, a conceptual framework and new self-report social support measure was developed. Items measuring tangible, informational, language, monetary, and emotional support are being field tested in Asian elders from community settings. Psychometric data will be presented. Results will allow us to identify a final set of items to assess key domains of social support relevant to these groups, and that have promising psychometric properties.
Learning Objectives: At the end of the session, the participant will be able to
Keywords: Asian Americans, Social Services
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.