by Older Taiwanese in the United States

This article examines factors that affect the utilization of health care services and home- and community-based care (HCBC) programs by older Taiwanese, a rapidly growing and newly arrived immigrant group. Currently, knowledge about the health status and utilization of health-related services among newly arrived Asians is lim-ited. This article analyzed data from the 1994 Southern California Taiwanese Ameri-can Elderly Survey (n = 240) based on a modified Andersen behavioral model that included both cultural and structural variables. Significant variables included health needs, cultural beliefs, and socioeconomic and structural variables; however, vari-ables predicting utilization of health services and HCBC programs were different. Implications for both gerontological research and practice include the following: (1) Future programs addressing service utilizations by older Taiwanese should be cultur-ally sensitive and consider family as a unit of intervention, and (2) more multidisciplinary research should explore how cultural and structural variables con-tribute to service utilization among newly arrived elderly Asian immigrants. Improving access to health services and home- and community-based care (HCBC) programs for older Americans has been an important public policy objective. Many policy initiatives such as Healthy Peo-ple 2000 and Medicare reform called for eliminating disparities i