Department of Sociology, Case Western Reserve University (CWRU), Cleveland, OH, USA.
Department of Psychology, Cleveland State University, Cleveland, OH, USA.
Ethn Health. 2020 May;25(4):625-637. doi: 10.1080/13557858.2019.1573974. Epub 2019 Jan 29.
Although many older adults fear frailty and loss of independence in late life, relatively few make plans for their future care. Such planning is particularly limited among racial minorities. Given the benefits of future care planning (FCP), it is important to understand factors that facilitate or hamper FCP in late life. Our study explored racial, demographic, and dispositional influences on thinking about and engagement in FCP among community-dwelling older adults. This study utilized data from the Elderly Care Research Center's longitudinal study of successful aging based on interviews with 409 older adults. Along with race, education and other demographic factors, we explored dispositional influences of optimism and religiosity on FCP using logistic regression. African American older adults had significantly lower odds of executing FCP (=0.36, < .05) when compared to White older adults. However, this estimate was no longer statistically significant after controlling for education, disability status, optimism, and religiosity. Older adults with higher education had significantly higher odds of thinking about and executing FCP. Higher level of optimism was associated with lower odds of FCP. Limited educational resources and the greater prevalence of dispositions of religiosity and optimism among African American older adults may contribute to their reluctance to engage in FCP in comparison to their white counterparts. Our findings offer practice implications indicating a need for interventions to encourage older adults, particularly racial minorities, to recognize and actively plan for their future care needs.
尽管许多老年人在晚年都担心体弱和丧失独立性，但相对较少有人为自己的未来护理做出计划。这种计划在少数族裔中尤为有限。鉴于未来护理规划（FCP）的好处，了解促进或阻碍晚年 FCP 的因素非常重要。我们的研究探讨了种族、人口统计学和性格因素对社区居住的老年人思考和参与 FCP 的影响。本研究利用了老年人护理研究中心成功老龄化纵向研究的数据，该研究基于对 409 名老年人的访谈。除了种族、教育和其他人口统计学因素外，我们还使用逻辑回归探讨了乐观主义和宗教信仰等性格因素对 FCP 的影响。与白人老年人相比，非裔美国老年人执行 FCP 的可能性显著降低（=0.36，<0.05）。然而，在控制了教育、残疾状况、乐观主义和宗教信仰后，这一估计不再具有统计学意义。受教育程度较高的老年人思考和执行 FCP 的可能性显著增加。较高的乐观水平与 FCP 的可能性降低相关。非裔美国老年人的教育资源有限，宗教信仰和乐观主义的比例较高，这可能导致他们与白人老年人相比，不愿意参与 FCP。我们的研究结果提供了实践意义，表明需要采取干预措施，鼓励老年人，特别是少数族裔，认识到并积极规划自己未来的护理需求。
