Access to Essential Health Care Services among Older People in the Community
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Abstract
This cross-sectional quantitative research study aimed to examine the level of access to essential health care services for elderly people in the community and factors related to their access. The sample consisted of 438 elderly people in Phayao Province who were selected by multistage random sampling. The instruments for collecting data consisted of a personal information questionnaire, access to essential health care services for the elderly form, and the social support for access to essential health care services among older people form. The forms were approved with content validity of .90 and .91, respectively. The reliability of Cronbach's alpha coefficient was .849 and .868, respectively. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Chi-Square statistics, and Spearman's correlation coefficient. The results of this study revealed that overall average access to essential health care services was at a high level (x̅=2.55, SD=.28). Furthermore, age, waiting time for an appointment, and social support, were positively and significantly associated with access to essential health care services for the elderly (r=.140, p<.01; r=.104, p<.05; r=.170, p<.01), respectively. Waiting time to see medical personnel was negatively statistically significantly associated with access to essential health care services for the elderly (r=-.127, p<.01). Residency location of the elderly was significantly related to access to essential health care services for the elderly (χ2=27.518, p<.01). Therefore, to enhance access to essential health care services for the elderly, factors such as age, waiting time for an appointment, social support, waiting time to see medical personnel, and the residency location of the elderly need to be considered in order to provide more appropriate and continuous access to essential health care services for the elderly.
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บทความและรายงานวิจัยในวารสารพยาบาลกระทรวงสาธารณสุข เป็นความคิดเห็นของ ผู้เขียน มิใช่ของคณะผู้จัดทำ และมิใช่ความรับผิดชอบของสมาคมศิษย์เก่าพยาบาลกระทรวงสาธารณสุข ซึ่งสามารถนำไปอ้างอิงได้
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