[[alternative]]Elderly social support system and health status in the urban and rural area

[[abstract]]The purposes of this research are to compare the elderly social support system and health status differences between the urban and rural areas and to explore the social support system impact on health status of the elderly in urban/rural areas. The data were collected by Dr. Shwu-Chong Wu, a faculty of the Graduate Institute of Health Policy and Management of National Taiwan University and also the primary investigator of "the survey of health and long-term care in elderly" in 1996 and were the third data collection of that study. Researcher selected Wan-Hua area of Taipei City and Shin-Ting Hsiang, Pin-His Hsiang of Taipei Hsien to represent the geographic characteristics, i.e. urban and rural areas. This study randomly selected 1,634 cases (736 in the urban area,898 in the rural area). The valid sample was 1,448 cases ,with completing rate of 88.6%. Descriptive statistics, Chi-square, t-test, Hotelling's T2, multiple regression were used to analyze the data. The major findings of the study are as follows: 1.The difference of health status in the urban and rural area The perceived disease influence of elderly in the urban area was better than the rural area. The urban elderly had better conditions than the rural elderly in respiratory system diseases, arthritis / rheumatism / gout, lumbago / back pain, but worse conditions in hypertension, diabetes, and Parkinson's Disease. The urban elderly had better physical function than the rural elderly had. The urban elderly had better conditions than the rural elderly had in vigorous activities, climbing several flights of stairs, climbing one flight of stairs, walking more than a kilometer, walking several street blocks, walking one street block, but worse conditions in moderate activities and lifting or carrying groceries. The urban elderly had better mental health than the rural elderly. The urban elderly had more positive response than the rural elderly in questions such as "did not feel like eating; my appetite was poor", "felt could not shake off the blues", "felt depressed", "had trouble keeping my mind on what I was doing", "felt lonely", "felt sad", "could not get myself 'going'". 2.The difference of social support system between the urban and rural area The urban elderly had better social network than the rural elderly. The urban elderly had higher rate than the rural elderly in living with spouse, contacting with son and daughter, communicating with relatives and friends, and involving in social activities. In the responses of "how often do you visit your son and daughter", "how often do you talk with your son and daughter by phone", the urban elderly had significant more positive responses than the rural elderly. Regarding social support, the urban elderly had more support than the rural elderly. The urban elderly had significant higher score than the rural elderly in "somebody understood him / her " and "somebody listen to him /her ". There was no significant difference in support satisfaction between the urban and rural elderly. The frequency of negative interaction of the urban elderly was higher than frequency of the rural elderly. The urban elderly also had significant higher score than the rural elderly in "complaining frequency". 3.The correlation of social support system and health status in the urban and rural area In the urban area: the social support and social network could not predict the perceived disease influence. Those who were more involved in the social activities tended to have less physical functions disabled. Those who were more involved in the social activities, with less negative interaction had better mental health. In the rural area: those who were more involved in the social activities, higher support satisfaction, had less perceived disease influence. Those who were living with spouse, more contact with son and daughter, more connection with relatives and friends, higher support satisfaction were likely to have less physical function disabled. Those who were living with spouse, more contact with son and daughter, higher support satisfaction had better mental health. To sum up, the study results show significant differences of the social support system and health status between the urban and rural area.