THE IMPACT OF DIFFERENT PATTERNS OF HOME- AND COMMUNITY-BASED SERVICES AND FACTORS ON MULTIDIMENSIONAL UNMET NEEDS. (20th December 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Chen, Ya-Mei; Zhong, Zi-Ting; Wu, Shih-Cyuan
• Is Part Of: Innovation in aging. Volume 6(2022)Supplement 1
• Page Start: 640
• Page End: 640
• Publication Date: 2022-12-20
• Subjects: Aging -- Periodicals; Gerontology -- Periodicals; 612.67
• DOI: 10.1093/geroni/igac059.2371
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2399-5300

Abstract

Abstract: Background: Long-Term Care (LTC) in Taiwan has been implemented over the last 15 years, focusing on providing home- and community-based services (HCBS). Previous studies have shown that care recipients' level of unmet needs is associated with adverse health outcomes. This study aimed to identify HCBS use patterns among LTC care recipients and examine the impact of different patterns of HCBS on unmet needs. Methods: Surveys of service users were conducted in eight counties. Latent class analysis was used to identify the underlying subgroups of LTC recipients. Multiple regression analysis was used to assess the impact of HCBS patterns and care recipients' predisposing, enabling, and need factors on the level of unmet needs. Results: A total of 952 participants from northern, middle, and southern Taiwan completed the surveys. Three subgroups based on HCBS use were identified, including home-based personal care (HB-PC), home-based personal care and medical care (HB-PC/MC), and community care (CC). Care recipients in the HB-PC group (β = −1.922, p = 0.028) and the CC group (β = −2.177, p = 0.019) had lower unmet needs than those in the HB-PC/MC group. A lower disability level, living in a highly urbanized city, and lower levels of quality of life were associated with higher unmet needs (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Our results demonstrating that care recipients with lower disability levels had higher unmet needs may indicate insufficient funding support from Taiwan's LTC plans. However, multiple service users had high unmet needs, which warrants further investigation.