Department of Health Policy and Management, Korea University, Room 367, B-Dong Hana-Science Building, 145 Anam-Ro, Seongbuk-Gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Interdisciplinary Program in Precision Public Health, Korea University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Geroscience. 2024 Feb;46(1):1385-1394. doi: 10.1007/s11357-023-00910-6. Epub 2023 Aug 15.
Little is known about the relationship between the use of assistive devices for functional loss and social engagement. This study investigated whether wearing assistive devices (dentures and hearing aids) is associated with social engagement among older adults in South Korea. Potential heterogeneity by type of social engagement (informal social contact versus formal social activity) and gender was also examined. This study analyzed data from 3725 individuals aged 65 or older collected over the course of 6 waves of the Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing (KLoSA) from 2008 to 2018 (2150 women and 1575 men). Individual fixed effects models were used to account for unobserved individual-level heterogeneity that could confound the relationship between wearing assistive devices and social engagement. The fixed effects estimates showed that wearing assistive devices is associated with a decrease in formal social activity (b = - 0.034 for dentures and b = - 0.077 for hearing aids), but not informal social contact. Gender-stratified fixed effects revealed that the association between wearing assistive devices and social engagement is statistically significant only for men. In men, wearing assistive devices is associated with a decrease in formal social activity (b = - 0.049 for denture and b = - 0.095 hearing aids). The findings of this study suggest that wearing assistive devices may reduce the formal social activity of older adults, particularly men. Policymakers should consider developing interventions to help older adults overcome the stigma associated with assistive devices, which can hinder their social integration.
对于因功能丧失而使用辅助设备与社会参与之间的关系，人们知之甚少。本研究调查了在韩国，老年人使用辅助设备（义齿和助听器）是否与社会参与有关。还研究了按社会参与类型（非正式社会接触与正式社会活动）和性别划分的潜在异质性。本研究分析了 2008 年至 2018 年期间，通过韩国老龄化纵向研究（KLoSA）的 6 个波次收集的 3725 名 65 岁或以上的个体数据（2150 名女性和 1575 名男性）。个体固定效应模型用于解释可能混淆佩戴辅助设备与社会参与之间关系的未观察到的个体水平异质性。固定效应估计表明，佩戴辅助设备与正式社会活动的减少有关（义齿为 b=-0.034，助听器为 b=-0.077），但与非正式社会接触无关。按性别分层的固定效应显示，佩戴辅助设备与社会参与之间的关联仅在男性中具有统计学意义。在男性中，佩戴辅助设备与正式社会活动的减少有关（义齿 b=-0.049，助听器 b=-0.095）。本研究的结果表明，佩戴辅助设备可能会减少老年人，尤其是男性的正式社会活动。政策制定者应考虑制定干预措施，以帮助老年人克服与辅助设备相关的耻辱感，这可能会阻碍他们的社会融合。
