1 The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA.
2 California State University, Chico, CA, USA.
J Appl Gerontol. 2019 Oct;38(10):1351-1370. doi: 10.1177/0733464817733239. Epub 2017 Sep 29.
Older adults frequently experience adverse consequences as the result of unmet care needs, including not getting dressed and going without food when hungry. Previous studies have noted that characteristics of the caregiver network may be associated with unmet needs. Using National Health and Aging Trends Study data, I modeled the association between care configurations and unmet needs for men and women. In generalized linear models, formal care was not associated with unmet need among women or men. Compared with recipients of spousal care, men receiving care from one nonspousal caregiver, and men and women receiving care from any other configuration, had higher odds of unmet needs. The level of difficulty with daily tasks was strongly associated with unmet needs. These findings support monitoring older adults not receiving spousal care, increasing access to formal care, and regularly assessing level of difficulty with daily tasks in clinical and research settings.
老年人经常因未满足的护理需求而产生不良后果，包括不穿衣和饥饿时不吃东西。以前的研究指出，护理人员网络的特征可能与未满足的需求有关。利用国家健康老龄化趋势研究的数据，我对男性和女性的护理配置与未满足需求之间的关系进行了建模。在广义线性模型中，正式护理与女性或男性的未满足需求无关。与接受配偶护理的人相比，接受一个非配偶护理人员护理的男性，以及接受任何其他配置护理的男性和女性，未满足需求的可能性更高。日常任务的难度水平与未满足的需求密切相关。这些发现支持在临床和研究环境中监测未接受配偶护理的老年人，增加获得正式护理的机会，并定期评估日常任务的难度水平。
