PURPOSE This study tries to comprehend older adults' perspectives of community supports and health services in a South Korean city and identify important sociodemographic and health characteristics that affect their perspectives. METHODS 166 older adults were involved in this cross-sectional study. Questions on background characteristics and community supports and health services criteria (categorized as service accessibility, offer of services, voluntary support, or emergency care planning) based upon the WHO's Age-Friendly Cities Guide were used. The data were analyzed using paired and independent t-tests, one-way ANOVA, and hierarchical multiple regression analyses. RESULTS Emergency care planning was rated as the most important by the participants (mean age=76.24 years, 22.9% male), while its current level of performance was lowly appraised (p<.001). The rated importance for each category differed based on individual characteristics. Depression (p=.016), older age (p=.012), and restricted network type (p=.039) were significantly related to ascribing a higher degree of importance to community services. CONCLUSION Community initiatives are warranted to optimize emergency care for older adults. This planning must be based on the unique characteristics of older adults in coordination with supportive resources. In addition, comprehensive assessments are warranted before implementing action plans to ensure that the multi-dimensional problems of older adults are incorporated.
Citations
Citations to this article as recorded by
Research on the Evaluation of an Age-Friendly Layout of Medical Service Facilities in Wuhan City Based on Accessibility Fan Li, Jie Zhou, Wei Wei, Dongming Zhou Buildings.2024; 14(9): 2970. CrossRef
Systematic Literature Review (SLR) on Community Support Among the Older Adults Abdul Aziz Marzuki, Nik Norliati Fitri Md Nor, Siti Masayu Rosliah Abdul Rashid Ageing International.2023; 48(4): 1086. CrossRef
Assessing Age-Friendliness: Individualistic vs. Collectivistic Cultures Nancy Brossoie, Eunju Hwang, Kimin Song, Jin Wook Jeong, Kim Young-Woo Journal of Aging & Social Policy.2022; 34(2): 311. CrossRef