Department of Health Services Research, Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tenno-Dai, Tsukuba-Shi, Ibaraki, 305-8575, Japan.
BMC Geriatr. 2009 Jun 27;9:24. doi: 10.1186/1471-2318-9-24.
Prevention and reduction of disability among community-dwelling older adults have been an important health policy concern in Japan. Moreover, it has also become a gendered issue due to the recent rapid growth in older females than males with disability living in their own homes. The aim of this study is to examine whether there is a gender difference in the use of community rehabilitation programs in Japan, and if so, whether the lack of transportation services and accompanying caregivers are the reasons for the gender difference.
This study was based on surveys of the program administrators and the primary caregivers of the program participants from 55 randomly selected community rehabilitation programs (CRP) in the Tokyo metropolitan area. Questions included sociodemographic characteristics of program participants, types of transportation services provided by the CRP, caregiver's relationship to participant, and the nature of family support. Bivariate statistical analysis was conducted.
Although there were more females than males with disability residing in communities, our findings showed that females were less likely to use CRP than males (1.3% and 2.3%, respectively; Chi2 = 93.0, p < 0.0001). Lower CRP use by females was related to lower availability of transportation services (36% without transportation service and 46% door-to-door services) and fewer caregivers accompanying the participants to CRP.
This study builds on previous research findings, which suggest gender inequality in access to CRP.
预防和减少社区居住的老年人残疾一直是日本的一项重要的健康政策关注点。此外，由于最近残疾的老年女性人数增长迅速，超过了男性，而且她们多数居住在自己家中，这使得该问题也成为了一个性别问题。本研究旨在探讨在日本，社区康复项目的使用是否存在性别差异，如果存在，是否是由于缺乏交通服务和随行护理人员导致了这种性别差异。
本研究基于对东京都地区 55 个随机选择的社区康复项目（CRP）的项目管理员和项目参与者的主要照顾者的调查。问题包括项目参与者的社会人口学特征、CRP 提供的交通服务类型、护理人员与参与者的关系以及家庭支持的性质。进行了双变量统计分析。
尽管社区中残疾的女性人数多于男性，但我们的研究结果表明，女性使用 CRP 的比例低于男性（分别为 1.3%和 2.3%；Chi2 = 93.0，p < 0.0001）。女性 CRP 使用比例较低与交通服务的可用性较低有关（36%没有交通服务，46%门到门服务），以及陪伴参与者参加 CRP 的护理人员较少。
本研究建立在先前的研究发现基础上，表明在获得 CRP 方面存在性别不平等。
