Exploring associations between older adults' demographic characteristics and their perceptions of self-care actions for communicating with healthcare professionals in southern United States.
Huey-Ming Tzeng, Udoka Okpalauwaekwe, Cindy Feng and 3 others
PMID 31367439WHAT IT FOUND
Older men were less willing to list healthcare issues or share care ideas than women.
Separated older adults reported less ability to share care ideas than married ones. Most older adults rated these communication self-care actions as important, desirable, and within their ability.
Key findings
01Male older adults had lower odds than females of desiring to make a list of questions for appointments and of desiring to share ideas about their care experience.
02Separated older adults had lower odds than married ones of being able to share their ideas about the care experience.
03High proportions of older adults reported that each of the seven communication self-care actions was important to them.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The sample size (N = 123) was too small for the planned multiple logistic regression; the authors calculated that at least 400 cases were needed. The overall regression models were not statistically significant, so the reported odds ratios for individual variables must be interpreted cautiously. The study was limited to one region in the southern United States and was 90.2% White, so findings may not generalise to other populations. Many survey items had missing responses, and data were analysed without adjusting for missing values. The cross-sectional design cannot establish cause or direction of association.
Declared interests
No conflict of interest was declared by the authors.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the large odds ratios (e.g., 0.069 or 0.012) as strong evidence that being separated or male causes poor communication. The sample was too small for the multiple regression, the overall models were not statistically significant, and the confidence intervals were wide and included values close to one.