senior citizens focus group
Summary
The Senior Citizens Focus Group was held in Harrison , Arkansas . The focus group was conducted during the quarterly advisory group for the Area Agency on Aging. The Senior Advisory Group is composed of 1 - 3 consumers from community service centers throughout a nine county region of Northwest Arkansas that included representatives of the four target counties.
The senior citizens focus group consisted of 14 individuals ranging in age from 63-91 years of age. The majority of the participants were in their late 60's to early 80's. The focus group consisted of 12 women and 2 men.
Summary of Major Themes
Based upon the comments made by participants in the focus group and observations by the group facilitators, the focus group participants in general were active members of the senior community centers and in fair to good health, by their own report. The focus group members reported that they had a variety of interests, activities, and interpersonal contacts, were covered by Medicare or other supplemental health insurance policies, and could be classified in the middle to upper middle socioeconomic income brackets. Many of the participants had military benefits for themselves or for their spouse. Most of the participants described at least one chronic health condition for which they were receiving ongoing medical care.
Medical Care Costs
Many of the members of the Senior Citizens Focus Group identified money needed for prescriptions and ongoing medical care (e.g. , lack of health care insurance), as significant issues confronted by senior citizens in accessing and paying for medical health care services. This lack of affordable medical care services was identified as being particularly problematic in the more underserved rural areas of Northwest Arkansas . Participants in the elderly focus group characterized the dilemma faced by many seniors in accessing affordable medical care services in the following manner:
"We have a lady at our center, she needs tests done but she knows it's going
to be at least three months before she can save up the money, and she's been
checking and she has no insurance. She has too much income to apply
and get Medicaid, she has no insurance, she has to pay a higher rate than the
people that have insurance and she really needs to have the tests done. She cannot have them done because she cannot afford to put the money up
front, and they want 100% of it. She is not the only one".
Access to Health Care Services
Access to medical health care services was a theme repeatedly cited by many members of the senior citizens focus group. Transportation difficulties, lack of routine and specialized medical services (more of a significant problem in rural areas), the need for more health care services, adult day care centers and assisted living facilities, prescription drugs plans, and emergency care services were identified as needed health care services for seniors.
Health Care Concerns
The following health care concerns were most frequently identified by members of the senior citizens focus group; diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, emphysema, arthritis, cancer, digestive problems, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's, obesity, nutritional issues, lack of exercise, and medication related problems. Many of these health care concerns represent relatively chronic conditions that affect elderly citizens. According to the participants of the senior citizens focus group, senior's success in adequately managing their health care conditions is in part, dependent upon the health care resources they have available along with their ability to access health care services. One member of the focus group described the disparity between seniors with adequate resources available in order to meet their health care needs and members of the elderly cohort with limited health care resources as follows:
"Our seniors rank as the sickest and most impoverished groups in the United States . "
Cohort Attitudes and Values about Healthcare
Implicit and explicit values and attitudes of senior citizens, related to health care, were represented during the focus group. One participant described "ageism" as exhibited by members of the health care community in the following manner:
"I think it's the mind frame that physicians and healthcare workers, and it that
they see someone elderly with white hair, who is not moving as fast as they used
to, and I think that they look at them as they are maybe not together, competent,
and if there is a child there or someone else they can talk to, they just ignore
the senior being there and they just talk to the person that is with them. "Another focus group member expressed a similar concern in regard to ageism, exhibited by healthcare providers, stating:
"I've observed these doctors that whenever a senior goes in with one of their
children or something, instead of talking to the person they are treating,
they'll be talking to the person that brought them in. It seems to me. "The attitudes and values of senior citizens, also affect their ability to adequately address their health care needs . Avoidance of doctors, pride, self-reliance, and fear, were cited by several members of the focus group as reasons why seniors did not access health care services. One member of the focus group characterized their willingness to obtain medical services in the following manner:
"I don't go until I need to go. "
While it is somewhat prudent to avoid accessing medical care services during outbreaks of highly contagious infectious diseases, such as influenza, themes of avoidance and fear were also endorsed by several members of the focus group as evident by the following sequential comments:
"You'll go there and catch everything else. "
"As a mater of fact, the one lady says, someone else said she should
go to the doctor and she says; what and get sicker than I am. "
One focus group member stated their attitude towards health care as follows:
"I am ex-military, and I don't really have any health care costs at all.
Medication - I am a fortunate one, I just don't want to go. "However, members of the focus group also appeared to accept and value the need for health care services as many of the participants described routine and ongoing medical care for a variety of medical conditions. One participant stated the need for medical services for seniors in the following manner:
"I think, too, a lot of people now are getting into the senior age are
getting use to seeing a doctor. "Clearly, the attitudes and values of health care providers, and senior citizens themselves, exert a significant influence on the elderly's ability to successfully navigate the health care system.
The focus group recommended the following for consideration:
- The cost of health care is a major concern that blocks or limits many elderly from accessing the care they need.
- Senior citizens are aware of the growing trend of doctors not accepting new patients with Medicare.
The values, attitudes and perceptions of senior citizens play an important part in their decision to access medical services or not.