The Effect Of Family Support On Medical Treatment Behavior In The Elderly

In the context of the Healthy China strategy,the willingness and behavior of the elderly to seek medical attention are receiving increasing attention from the academic community.This article uses data from the China Health and Pension Tracking(CHARLS)2013 survey to study the impact of family support(family economic and non-economic support)and social interaction on the decision-making of medical treatment for the elderly.In terms of outpatient demand,the study found that: First,family financial support has a positive impact on the elderly's outpatient demand.Under the control of other factors,the more financial support an elderly family can give to medical consumers,the stronger their willingness to go to the clinic.Second,family non-financial support has no significant effect on the outpatient needs of the elderly.Under the control of other factors,the daily care or material support provided by the family of the doctor did not significantly affect his intention to go to the clinic.Third,the social needs of outpatients for the elderly are not significantly affected.The impact of regular contact and visits by family members and relatives and friends of elderly medical consumers on whether they go to the clinic for medical treatment is not statistically significant.With regard to the choice of medical institutions,the study found that: First,family financial support did not have a particularly significant impact on the choice of medical institutions for the elderly.However,it is worth noting that demographic variables of elderly medical consumers,such as ethnicity,household registration,and the level of individual education,have a significant impact on their choice of medical institution category.Second,family non-financial support has a certain impact on the choice of medical institutions for the elderly.That is,in the case of not controlling the financial support of the elderly family,the non-economic support of the elderly family will have a significant negative impact on the choice of medical institutions for the elderly,which indicates that the more non-economic support provided by the family,the health of the elderly The better it will be,the less likely it is to see a doctor at a higher-level medical facility.Third,social interaction has a certain impact on the choice of medical institutions for the elderly.The more social connections the elderly have,the more likely they are to see a doctor at a municipal or higher medical institution.This shows that the social connections of the elderly play a role in transmitting information and help the elderly to obtain better medical services.In terms of the number of visits to the doctor,the study found that: First,the more the family's financial support,the more the elderly will go to the doctor;and the family non-economic support does not have a significant effect on the number of the doctors' visits.Second,social interaction does not have a significant effect on the number of medical visits to the elderly.Based on the above findings,the author believes that family support and social interaction have an important impact on the elderly's decision to seek medical treatment.Family financial support mainly affects the elderly's willingness to seek medical treatment and the number of visits,while family non-economic support does not significantly affect the elderly's willingness to seek medical treatment and behavior.Choice of institutions.These research findings have important implications for the future development of medical services for the elderly: on the one hand,it is necessary to provide the elderly with a sound medical security system to reduce the strong dependence of the elderly on medical treatment on the family;on the other hand,to expand the elderly Human social connections so that older people can get better medical services.