Community-dwelling older adults who are low-income and disabled weathering financial challenges.
Laura J Samuel, Rebecca Wright, Marianne Granbom and 4 others
PMID 34098443WHAT IT FOUND
Low-income disabled older adults described financial strain as a constant balancing act.
They tracked bills, cut basics, and coped largely by themselves while reporting depression, fear, headaches, high blood pressure, and sleep problems. Safety-net systems were not always helpful.
Key findings
01Participants linked financial challenges to worsened physical and mental health, including depressive symptoms, headaches, high blood pressure, and sleep disturbance.
02Participants consistently used self-reliant strategies, such as tracking bills, cutting back on basic necessities, and re-prioritizing needs, including skipping clothing, social activities, or heating.
03Support systems were not seen as universally helpful; some participants avoided public benefits because enrollment was difficult, and some gave financial support to family or church instead of receiving it.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The sample was small and purposive, drawn from people who had participated in the CAPABLE studies and agreed to be contacted again, so it may not represent older adults who were not in Baltimore or who did not agree to further contact. Most participants were Black women living alone with incomes below $30,000, so the findings may not apply to older adults of other genders, races, living situations, or incomes. The paper states 11 consented and two male participants were purposively recruited, but the final interviewed total is not clear. The study was cross-sectional and could not show how financial challenges and health change over time or prove the weathering process. Social desirability may have biased responses because financial challenges are stigmatizing. Early-life adversity was not systematically measured, but many participants volunteered it.
Declared interests
The supplied article metadata lists research support from N.I.H. extramural and non-U.S. government sources. The article text provided does not include an author conflict-of-interest declaration.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these themes as proof that financial strain causes weathering or that self-reliant coping improves health. This is a small qualitative study of older adults' experiences, so it describes what participants said happened, not tested effects.