The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #67022

Mitchell P. LaPlante, PhD, Taewoon Kang, PhD, H. Stephen Kaye, PhD, and Charlene Harrington, PhD. Disability Statistics Center, Institute for Health & Aging, University of California, San Francisco, 3333 California Street, Room 340, San Francisco, CA 94118, 415 502-5214, laplant@itsa.ucsf.edu

Among adults needing help in at least two ADLs, we examine perceived unmet need for personal assistance services and its association with both reduced hours of help received and with higher rates of adverse consequences due to lack of help comapred to those whose needs are met. Data are from the 1994-97 National Health Interview Survey on Disability. Multivariate regression was used to control for need level, living arrangements, and other characteristics that may differ between persons with perceived unmet and met needs and to determine the shortfall in hours of help associated with unmet need. We find that almost one million adults have unmet need for personal assistance and receive 13 hours less help per week than those whose needs are met, controlling for other variables. This shortfall is much greater among persons who live alone than among those who live with others (22 versus 10 hours). We find further that unmet need is associated with high rates of adverse consequences including discomfort, weight loss, dehydration, falls, burns, and dissatisfaction with the amount of help received and that people who live alone and have unmet needs fare worse on these indicators than those who live with others. Overall, fewer than 6 percent of needed hours are unmet among the 3.3 million people needing help in 2 or more ADLs, suggesting that the elimination of unmet need is an achievable national policy goal.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the prevalence of unmet need for personal assistance services among adults
• Recognize potential adverse consequences arising from unmet needs
• Develop policies to reduce unmet need and its consequences

Keywords: Disability Policy, Long-Term Care

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.