Abstract
Background
Financial support services are one of the major effective responses to the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, there is scant data on financial support services for older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana and the factors associated with access to such assistance. Thus, this study sought to address this knowledge gap.
Methods
The study utilised data on 474 older adults aged 50+ from a coronavirus-related health literacy (CHL) survey conducted in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. We performed multivariate logistic regression analysis to determine the demographic and socio-economic factors associated with access to financial support services among older adults during the COVID-19 in Ghana.
Results
Out of the 474 Ghanaian older adults sampled, 37.3% received financial support from someone in and/or outside their household during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, after adjusting for the demographic and socio-economic factors, older adults aged 70-79 years (adjusted odds ratio, aOR=0.23, 95% confidence interval, CI=0.12-0.43, P<0.001), those with secondary education (0.33 [0.14-0.82], P=0.016) and those employed (0.51 [0.31-0.85], P=0.009) had lower odds of having access to financial support services from someone in and/or outside their household during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Conclusions
The demographic and socio-economic factors, particularly age, education and employment status play a critical role in older adults’ access to financial support services during difficult situations. However, the lower prevalence of access to financial support services among older adults could impact older Ghanaians’ welfare and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. This highlights the need for the government and welfare institutions to increase the coverage of social welfare programs and packages to include most vulnerable group of older populations who are negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Financial support services are one of the major effective responses to the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, there is scant data on financial support services for older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana and the factors associated with access to such assistance. Thus, this study sought to address this knowledge gap.
Methods
The study utilised data on 474 older adults aged 50+ from a coronavirus-related health literacy (CHL) survey conducted in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. We performed multivariate logistic regression analysis to determine the demographic and socio-economic factors associated with access to financial support services among older adults during the COVID-19 in Ghana.
Results
Out of the 474 Ghanaian older adults sampled, 37.3% received financial support from someone in and/or outside their household during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, after adjusting for the demographic and socio-economic factors, older adults aged 70-79 years (adjusted odds ratio, aOR=0.23, 95% confidence interval, CI=0.12-0.43, P<0.001), those with secondary education (0.33 [0.14-0.82], P=0.016) and those employed (0.51 [0.31-0.85], P=0.009) had lower odds of having access to financial support services from someone in and/or outside their household during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Conclusions
The demographic and socio-economic factors, particularly age, education and employment status play a critical role in older adults’ access to financial support services during difficult situations. However, the lower prevalence of access to financial support services among older adults could impact older Ghanaians’ welfare and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. This highlights the need for the government and welfare institutions to increase the coverage of social welfare programs and packages to include most vulnerable group of older populations who are negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | e2022010 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Journal of Global Health Reports |
| Volume | 6 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 13 Mar 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Out of the 474 Ghanaian older adults sampled, 37.3% received financial support from someone in and/or outside their household during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, after adjusting for the demographic and socio-economic factors, older adults aged 70-79 years (adjusted odds ratio, aOR=0.23, 95% confidence interval, CI=0.12-0.43, P<0.001), those with secondary education (0.33 [0.14-0.82], P=0.016) and those employed (0.51 [0.31-0.85], P=0.009) had lower odds of having access to financial support services from someone in and/or outside their household during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Funding Information:
The outcome variable for this study was access to financial support. Access to financial support was defined as individuals aged 50+ who received cash from either a household member or someone outside the household. Access to financial support was measured as a dichotomous variable indicating "no access to financial support =0) or “access to financial support =1)” during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Funding Information:
The study revealed that 25.7% of the participants received financial support from someone in their household during the COVID-19 pandemic (see Table 2). Further, 18.6% of the participants received financial support from someone outside their home during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results show that older adults received more financial support from someone in their households than those outside their families. About 37.3% of the participants received financial support from someone in the home and outside the household during the COVID-19 pandemic (see Table 2).
Funding Information:
During the COVID-19 pandemic, have you received financial support from someone in your household?
Funding Information:
During the COVID-19 pandemic, have you received financial support from someone in your household and outside your household
Funding Information:
pandemic (0.34 [0.14-0.82], P=0.016). Also, employed older adults had lower odds of receiving financial support from the household and outside household during the COVID-19 pandemic (0.51 [0.31-0.85], P=0.009).
Funding Information:
In-household financial support (Model 1) AOR [95% CI]
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, International Society of Global Health. All rights reserved.
Keywords
- COVID-19
- Financial support services
- Ghana
- Older adults
