Evaluating Disparities in Elderly Community Care Resources: Using a Geographic Accessibility and Inequality Index

Hui-Ching Wu and Ming-Hseng Tseng
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Hui-Ching Wu: Department of Medical Sociology and Social Work, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung 402, Taiwan
Ming-Hseng Tseng: Department of Medical Informatics, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung 402, Taiwan

IJERPH, 2018, vol. 15, issue 7, 1-18

Abstract: This study evaluated geographic accessibility and utilized assessment indices to investigate disparities in elderly community care resource distribution. The data were derived from Taiwanese governmental data in 2017, including 3,148,283 elderly individuals (age 65+), 7681 villages, and 1941 community care centers. To identify disparities in geographic accessibility, we compared the efficacy of six measurements and proposed a composite index to identify levels of resource inequality from the Gini coefficient and “median-mean” skewness. Low village-level correlation (0.038) indicated inconsistencies between the demand populations and community care center distribution. Method M6 (calculated accessibility of nearest distance-decay accounting for population of villages, supplier loading, and elderly walkability) was identified as the most comprehensive disparity measurement. Community care policy assessment requires a comprehensive and weighted calculation process, including the elderly walkability distance-decay factor, demand population, and supplier loading. Three steps were suggested for elderly policy planning and improvement in future.

Keywords: geographic accessibility; spatial inequality; resource allocation; community care; social support; elderly health; aging in place (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (15)

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