Can the family still cope? Social support and health as determinants of nursing home use in the older Mexican-origin population.
OBJECTIVE
This article examines the impact of disability, cognitive status, and social support on nursing home use in a sample of older Mexican Americans.


METHODS
We used four waves of the Hispanic Established Populations for Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly (H-EPESE), a longitudinal study of 3,050 older Mexican Americans living in the Southwest initially contacted in 1993 to 1994.


RESULTS
The findings reveal that advanced age, being a man, activities of daily living disability, and cognitive impairment are strong predictors of institutionalization and death. Living with family, arriving in the United States in late life, and access to social support independently decreased the probability of dying in a nursing home.


CONCLUSIONS
Although it is clear that adequate social support can make it possible for an impaired older person to remain in the community serious impairment can eventually overwhelm even a supportive network and result in the institutionalization of an impaired older person.
Angel
Jacqueline L
JL
Center on Health and Social Policy, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA. jangel@mail.utexas.edu
Angel
Ronald J
RJ
Aranda
Maria P
MP
Miles
Toni P
TP
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D003071:Cognition; D006233:Persons with Disabilities; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007326:Institutionalization; D008297:Male; D017058:Mexican Americans; D009735:Nursing Homes / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012944:Social Support; D014481:United States