Care utilisation and accessibility to information in female older adults in the UK

Abstract

This secondary data analysis examined older women’s accessibility to information and advice about support, services or benefits in the UK and explored factors affecting their accessibility. Data was drawn from a national annual adult social care service user survey conducted in 2016 in the UK. A total of 19,549 age 65+ female community-dwelling elderly people included in the analysis. Independent factors were eight variables from the Adult Social Care Outcome Toolkit: perceived control over daily life, personal cleanliness and comfort, food and drink, safety, clean and comfort home, social participation, how the time was spent, and dignity. There were 11,104 (79.2%) respondents, and non-white respondents had a higher proportion than white respondents, reported difficulty in accessing information (Chi-square=18.598***, df=1). From logistic regression analysis, respondents were more likely to have difficulty if social services could not help them acquire dignity (OR=2.344***, 95%CI=2.013-2.729), safety (OR=2.209***, 95%CI=1.792-2.724), the way how they spent their time (OR=1.540***, 95%CI=1.320-2.796), a clean and comfortable home (OR=1.185*, 95%CI=1.007-1.396), and if no non-resident informal care received (OR=0.822*, 95%CI=0.718-0.942), and if being non-white (OR=1.531***, 95%CI=1.220-1.922) (***p<.001). The Care Act 2014 in the UK stresses the importance of promoting wellbeing and independence in older people via formal and informal support. The significant link between care utilisation and accessibility to information in older women suggests a need for a better social infrastructure to intersect formal and informal care for improving accessibility to information and making informed choice of health and social care options, resulting in better health outcomes in ageing population.