MINORITY ELDERLY ACCESS TO LONG-TERM CARE

获得长期护理（LTC）是一个关键的种族和族裔问题， 少数老年人，因为他们的慢性 残疾。 非洲裔美国人和西班牙裔老年人的 残疾程度与非西班牙裔白色老年人一样高或更高，但 非洲裔美国人和西班牙裔老年人不太可能使用护理 比非西班牙裔更有可能获得非正式的支持 白人 关于使用正规社区服务的数据好坏参半。接入 种族和少数民族的急性护理障碍是很好的 记录在案，但研究是有限的程度上， 障碍限制了少数群体老年人利用长期护理。 本研究将使用1987年全国医疗费用 国家监测和评价调查将开始调查使用 长期护理1。比较使用养老院，正式的家庭， 和非正式的长期照顾老年非裔美国人，西班牙裔， 非西班牙裔白人;控制选定的人口统计，需求， 人口中的资源/障碍差异。2.比较金额 以及养老院和正式家庭护理的支出来源， 老年非裔美国人、西班牙裔和非西班牙裔白人; 控制人口统计学、需求和资源/障碍差异， 人口。 数据来自710名非洲裔美国人的全国代表性样本， 190名西班牙裔和4786名非西班牙裔白色老人居住在社区 456名非洲裔美国人，137名西班牙裔美国人，近4400名非西班牙裔美国人 疗养院里的白色老人。 作为初步研究，大多数分析 将是描述性的。 点估计值、比率和置信区间 将按来源为所有长期 护理，疗养院护理，正式的家庭服务和非正式的长期护理 照顾种族和民族。 差异的相对影响 将通过对关键变量进行标准化来探索人口。 的 假设是，考虑到残疾和其他 少数老年人将使用较低水平的两者， 机构和非机构长期护理。

Access to long-term care (LTC) is a critical issue of racial and ethnic minority elderly because of their comparatively high levels of chronic disability. African-American and Hispanic elderly have levels of disability as high or higher than non-Hispanic white elderly, but African-American and Hispanic elderly are less likely to use nursing homes and more likely to receive informal support than non-Hispanic whites. Data on the use of formal community services is mixed. Access barriers to acute care for racial and ethnic minorities is well documented, but research is limited on the degree to which access barriers limit the use of long-term care by minority elderly. The proposed research will use the 1987 National Medical Expenditure Survey (NMES) to begin to investigate access barriers to the use of long-term care by 1. Comparing the use of nursing home, formal in-home, and informal long-term care by elderly African-Americans, Hispanics, and non-Hispanic whites; controlling for selected demographic, need, and resource/barrier differences in the populations. 2. Comparing the amount and sources of spending for nursing home and formal in-home care by elderly African-Americans, Hispanics, and non-Hispanic whites; controlling for demographic, need, and resource/barrier differences in the populations. Data are from a nationally representative sample of 710 African-American, 190 Hispanic, and 4786 non-Hispanic white elders living in the community and 456 African-American, 137 Hispanic, and almost 4400 non-Hispanic white elderly in nursing homes. As preliminary research, most analysis will be descriptive. Point estimates, rates, and confidence intervals will be created for receipt and expenditures by source on all long-term care, nursing home care, formal in-home services, and informal long-term care by race and ethnicity. The relative effects of differences between populations will be explored by standardizing them on key variables. The hypothesis is that, given similar levels of disability and other characteristics, minority elderly will be using lower levels of both institutional and noninstitutional long-term care.