FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH SELF-REPORTED USE AND NONUSE OF ASSISTIVE DEVICES AMONG IMPAIRED ELDERLY RESIDING IN THE COMMUNITY

We report an analysis of data from the Health and Activity Limitation Survey (HALS)1 pertaining to the use of assistive devices. The focus i s on elderly people reporting an impairment who did not use assistive devices. The degree of impairment, type of impairment, and socio-demog raphic variables were analyzed for their association with non-use of a ssistive devices. The non-use of assistive devices was often found to be consistently and strongly correlated for women who report social is olation, less education and who reside in rural areas, suggesting that these groups could be the target for policy initiatives.