Healthcare and aging: do European Union countries differ?
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to evaluate socio-economic inequalities in the use, accessibility and satisfaction with health services amongst 60-84 year old people from seven European urban communities. Design/methodology/approach Data for this study were collected in 2009. The target population was people aged 60-84 years from Stuttgart (Germany), Athens (Greece), Ancona (Italy), Kaunas (Lithuania), Porto (Portugal), Granada (Spain) and Stockholm (Sweden). The total sample comprised 4,467 respondents with a mean response rate across these countries of 45.2 per cent. Findings The study demonstrated that the majority of respondents had contact with a health care provider within the last 12 months. The highest percentages were reported by respondents from Spain (97.8 per cent) and Portugal (97.7 per cent). The results suggest that 13.0 per cent of respondents had refrained from seeking care services. The highest rates were amongst seniors from Lithuania (24.0 per cent), Germany (16.2 per cent) and Portugal (15.4 per cent). Logistic regression suggests that seniors who refrained from seeking health care was statistically significant associated with those with higher levels of education (odds ratios (OR)=1.21; 95 per cent confidence intervals (CI)=1.01-1.25) and financial strain (OR=1.26; 95 per cent CI=1.16-1.37). Furthermore, the majority of respondents were satisfied with health care services. Originality/value The findings from the "Elder Abuse: a multinational prevalence survey" study indicate the existence of significant variations in use, accessibility and satisfaction with health services by country and for socio-economic factors related to organizing and financing of care systems.
Department of Health Management, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences , Kaunas, Lithuania.
Mindaugas
M
Stankunas
Health Service Management Department, Centre for Health Innovation, School of Medicine, Griffith University , Southport, Australia.
Mark
M
Avery
Department of Public Health and Social Work, University of Applied Sciences Emden , Emden, Germany and Brandeis Women's Research Center, Brandeis University , Waltham, USA.
Jutta
J
Lindert
Health Service Management Department, Centre for Health Innovation, School of Medicine, Griffith University , Southport, Australia.
Ian
I
Edwards
Scientific Direction, Center for Socio-Economic Research on Ageing, Italian National Institute of Health and Science on Aging, Ancona, Italy.
Mirko Di
MD
Rosa
Centro de Investigacion Biomedica en Red de Salud Mental, Department of Psychiatry, University of Granada , Granada, Spain.
Francisco
F
Torres-Gonzalez
Department of Sociology, National School of Public Health, Athens, Greece.
Elisabeth
E
Ioannidi-Kapolou
Department of Epidemiology, Institute of Public Health, University of Porto , Porto, Portugal.
Henrique
H
Barros
Department of Health Sciences, Mid Sweden University , Sundsvall, Sweden.
Joaquim
J
Soares
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D005062:European Union; D005260:Female; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D054625:Healthcare Disparities; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012923:Social Class; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
Accessibility; Ageing; Care services; European Union; Patient expectation; Patient satisfaction; Satisfaction; Service delivery; Service quality; User satisfaction