Financial Hardship and Health Related Quality of Life Among Older Latinos With Chronic Diseases.
Frances R Nedjat-Haiem, Tamara Cadet, Humberto Parada and 5 others
PMID 33153273WHAT IT FOUND
Difficulty paying for treatment and money worries were linked to lower physical, functional, and social/family quality of life in older Latinos with chronic disease.
Medical cost concerns and emotional well-being showed no link.
Key findings
01Financial hardship treatment adherence and financial worry were associated with lower total health-related quality of life.
02Financial hardship treatment adherence was associated with lower physical and functional well-being, and financial worry was associated with lower social/family and functional well-being.
03Medical cost concerns were not associated with health-related quality of life, and no financial hardship variable was associated with emotional well-being.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study was cross-sectional, so it cannot show that financial hardship caused lower quality of life. Participants were recruited purposively from community settings, so self-selection may have biased the sample. The sample was small, and no power analysis was done. The financial hardship measure had not been previously tested for reliability or validity, and some of its subscales had low internal consistency. The FACT-G was developed for cancer patients and was used here with older Latinos who had mixed chronic conditions. The findings may not represent other older Latino populations.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that financial hardship causes lower quality of life or that addressing it will improve quality of life. The study measured associations at one time point in a small purposive sample, and the financial hardship measure had not been previously validated.