PERCEIVED AND UNMET NEEDS FOR HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES IN PUBLICLY SUBSIDIZED SENIOR HOUSING

摘要

This qualitative research study investigated resident service coordinator (RSC) perspectives on publicly subsidized senior housing residents’ unmet needs for formal health and social services. Lower-income older people can struggle with a variety of physical and mental health problems, making it challenging to successfully age in place. However, there is limited knowledge on health and social service needs for this population. Research was conducted at ten subsidized senior housings in New Hampshire and Southern Maine, serving rural and suburban communities. Researchers conducted one-on-one semi-structured interviews with RSCs to understand availability, accessibility, affordability, and quality of health and social services in these senior housings. These interviews focused on how RSCs support their residents in gaining the knowledge and resources to engage in the community socially and for health services utilization. We found that RSCs consistently identified help with homemaking (e.g., housekeeping, applying for assistance, connecting with home-help agencies) as the primary service requested by residents. More frequent within-residence activities and increased access to transportation were also cited as common service requests. The RSCs often reported finances and transportation as major barriers to service utilization and engagement with the broader community. The RSCs identified best practices to support their residents’ access to community-based social and health services, including providing no-cost access to educational programs, preventative healthcare (e.g., flu clinic, blood pressure clinic) and health interventions (e.g., glasses, hearing aids). Such practices help RSCs to achieve the ultimate goal of improving their residents’ quality of life.