Semester of Graduation

Fall 2019

Degree

Master of Social Work (MSW)

Department

School of Social Work

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

Previous research suggests a relationship between life satisfaction and healthcare utilization or HCU (Habibov & Afandi, 2016; Kim, Park, Sun, Smith, & Peterson, 2014). However, no study was found that examined this relationship among elderly American immigrants. The purpose of this study was to determine whether life satisfaction is linked to HCU for this population. The researcher of the current study applied binary logistic regression to data taken from the Health and Retirement Survey to determine whether changes in life satisfaction could be linked to variance in HCU across seven domains, including hospitalization, overnight nursing home stays, doctors visits, dentist visits, use of prescription medications, use of home health, and outpatient surgery. Results of this analysis suggested that a significant relationship did exist between life satisfaction and each of these domains, although the relationships varied in direction and effect size.

Date

8-19-2019

Committee Chair

Wilks, Scott

DOI

10.31390/gradschool_theses.4999

Share

COinS