AGen2023 Pre-Recorded Virtual Presentations

Aging and Gerontology

68446 | Reason Behind Grandchild Caring and Its Effect on Grandparent’s Social Engagement in Different Household Settings in India: Using a Bayesian

Papai Barman, International Institute for Population Sciences, India

Harihar Sahoo, International Institute for Population Sciences, India

The study examined reason behind grandchild caring and its effect on social engagement in different household (HH) setting among older (aged 60 and above) grandparents (GP) living in India using Longitudinal Aging Study in India data, 2017-18. HH structure was defined as the skippedgeneration HH (SGH) where GP and grandchild lived together without middle generation and the multi-generation HH (MGH) where more than two generations lived together. Reason was categorized as compulsive (CS) and non-compulsive situation (NCS). Bivariate analysis, probit, Bayesian statistical model (BSM), and 20-IDI were utilised. Results show while only 23.7% GP from MGH reported CS, nearly 44.9% from SGH reported CS. Margins of probit model shows that grandparents who lived in SGH were 0.19 (p<0.001) times more likely to report CS for grandchild caring than those who lived in MGH. Around 8 out of 10 IDI belonged to SGH reported the same. BSM shows that grandparents lived in SGH were 0.81 times (MCSE: 0.01) lower likely to engage in social life than their counterpart. It also shows that the level of social engagement was lower among grandparents reported living in SGH as well as CS. Around 6 out of 10 IDI from SGH reported that they did not participate in any event, program, and social work. The results from bivariate, regression, BSM and IDI significantly show that living in SGH and caring due to CS were negatively associated with social engagement. Familial role in different household settings brings different effect on the grandparent in India.

68499

| Universal Access to Healthcare for Older Patients in Ethiopia: A Qualitative Analysis of Perspectives From Older Patients and Health Professionals

Kirubel Mussie, University of Basel, Switzerland

Bettina Zimmermann, University of Basel, Switzerland

Bernice Elger, University of Basel, Switzerland

Jenny Setchell, The University of Queensland, Australia

Mirgissa Kaba, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia

Background: Access to quality healthcare for older patients is a challenge worldwide, particularly in countries like Ethiopia. The aim of this study was to investigate the challenges of accessing healthcare among older patients in Ethiopia from the perspective of older patients and healthcare professionals. Methods: Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with 20 older adults (60 years and older) and 26 health professionals including physicians and nurses purposively selected from health facilities in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital. The interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using the reflexive thematic analysis approach. Results: Three themes were produced from our analysis of the data. First, participants stated that the physical and material infrastructure of health facilities were not convenient to provide specialised care for older patients. Second, they reported that specialised care services for older patients were highly limited or even absent. Third, they underlined limited geriatric expertise among health professionals as an additional challenge.

Conclusion: The lack of specialised care for older patients in Ethiopia leaves the older population vulnerable to more health challenges and gives rise to the ethical concern of justice in healthcare distribution. The findings could inform preparedness and health policy efforts targeted at the well-being of older adults in Ethiopia and other similar contexts. Moreover, there should be more efforts to advance geriatric training among health professionals and introduce departments that are intentionally designed for geriatric care in health facilities.

68896 | Factors Associated With Risk of Fall Among Low Income Community-Dwelling Elderly in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Siti Nur'Asyura Adznam, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia

Jenny Boon Zean Lea, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia

Jenny Hii Ai Na, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia agen.iafor.org/agen2023-virtual-presentations

INTRODUCTION: Fall is prevalent among older adults globally. Risk of fall and factors associated with fall risk is also understudied and has not been fully addressed in the local and global research. Hence, this study aimed to explore the prevalence of falls and factors associated with risk of falls among low income elderly.

METHODS: A total of 97 eligible community-dwelling elderly at People’s Housing Program flats in Kuala Lumpur were recruited. Face-to-face interview was conducted using PASE-Malay version and Berg Balance Scale questionnaires. Fried Frailty Phenotype, Elderly Cognitive Assessment Questionnaire and Mini Nutritional Assessment Short Form were used to assess the frailty status, cognitive status and risk of malnutrition, respectively.

RESULTS: The mean age of the participants was 68.04±5.54 years. Majority of participants were women (73.2%), Malay (88.7%) and pre-frail (73.2%). A total of 44.3% of participants were IADL dependent, 9.3% were cognitively impaired and 29.9% were at risk of malnutrition. The proportion of falls among participants was 7.1% while 14.4% of them were at risk of falls. Factors that were found to be significantly associated with risk of falls were age (r=-0.407, p<0.001), ethnicity (p=0.001), educational level (p=0.003), skeletal muscle percentage (r=0.204, p=0.045), handgrip strength (r=0.394, p<0.001), hearing impairment (p = 0.020), frailty status (r=-0.315, p=0.002) and cognitive status (r=0.264, p=0.009).

CONCLUSION: It is critical to focus on assessing the risk of fall while providing treatments to low income elderly periodically. Future fall risk assessment should be part of community elderly health policy.