Unmet needs for home and community based services of people with disabilities in Massachusetts

The 2007 Study of Unmet Needs of Adults with Disabilities in Massachusetts was a unique effort to examine the unmet needs for home and community based services of an underserved group: people with disabilities who fall in the age gap between better served groups (children under age 18 and older adults over age 60). This study considers the unmet needs of adults age 18-59 with disabilities from the perspective of both the consumer and their informal caregiver. The sample came from the 2007 BRFSS, which identified persons with disabilities in the age group of interest.

A total of 571 adults with disabilities and 58 caregivers were interviewed between September and December 2007. The home and community based services of interest included: need for formal and informal care (4% to 14%), medical and specialty care (19% to 20%), case management (20%), transportation (17%), and information about services (34%). The objective of this presentation is to examine the association between the unmet need for services with general and mental health status, quality of life measures, and demographic information, including employment status, living arrangement, and income. Compared to people who did not have unmet needs for home and community based services, people who had unmet need for services were more likely to live alone, have lower income, report having more ADLs and IADLs and fair to poor health status. These analyses support the importance of investigating the relationship between access to home and community based services and health among people with disabilities.