Treatment FAQ

barriers that the aging and disabled face when seeking treatment

by Lee Graham Published 2 years ago Updated 2 years ago

While there are well known general barriers to help seeking across the population, specific barriers for older adults include difficulties with transportation, beliefs that it is normal to be anxious and depressed in old age, and beliefs by referrers that psychological therapy is less likely to be effective.

Full Answer

What are the barriers to seeking help for older adults?

While there are well known general barriers to help seeking across the population, specific barriers for older adults include difficulties with transportation, beliefs that it is normal to be anxious and depressed in old age, and beliefs by referrers that psychological therapy is less likely to be effective.

What are barriers for people with disabilities?

Nearly everyone faces hardships and difficulties at one time or another. But for people with disabilities, barriers can be more frequent and have greater impact. The World Health Organization (WHO) describes barriers as being more than just physical obstacles. Here is the WHO definition of barriers:

What are the barriers to access to mental health treatment?

Other commonly reported barriers included practical barriers (cost, not knowing where to go, distance), mistrust of mental health providers, not thinking treatment would help, stigma, and not wanting to talk with a stranger about private matters.

What are barriers to wellbeing?

The World Health Organization (WHO) describes barriers as being more than just physical obstacles. Here is the WHO definition of barriers: “Factors in a person’s environment that, through their absence or presence, limit functioning and create disability. These include aspects such as:

What might be a barrier to treatment for a person with a disability?

Providers should examine their programs and modify them to eliminate four fundamental groups of barriers to treatment for people with disabilities: (1) attitudinal barriers; (2) discriminatory policies, practices, and procedures; (3) communications barriers; and (4) architectural barriers.

What are barriers for the elderly in healthcare?

The most common barriers to seeing a physician were the doctor's lack of responsiveness to patient concerns, medical bills, transportation, and street safety. Low income, no supplemental insurance, older age, and female gender were independently related to perceptions of barriers.

What are three barriers to seeking health care?

Below, PatientEngagementHIT.com outlines some of the top obstacles to patient care access, as well as the ways some medical professionals are addressing them.Limited appointment availability, office hours.Geographic, clinician shortage issues.Transportation barriers.Limited education about care sites.More items...•

What are the five barriers for persons with disabilities?

Five Types of BarriersPhysical or Architectural Barriers.Informational or Communicational Barriers.Technological Barriers.Organizational Barriers.Attitudinal Barriers.

What are barriers to healthcare?

Barriers to HealthcareHealth Professional Shortage.Transportation Access.Lack of Health Insurance.Financial Constraints.Language Barriers.

What barriers prevent more services for older people?

Barriers to independence include not so much age itself, but the ill health, frailty, increased need for medical attention, handicaps, and difficulties with the activities of daily living that are more likely to arise with advancing age. Another significant barrier can be lack of money.

What are the 7 barriers in health and social care?

Barriers in Health and Social Care: The barriers in health and social care are physical barriers, psychological barriers, financial barriers, geographical barriers, cultural/language barriers and resource barriers.

What are the 4 barriers to accessing health services?

The study shows that lack of transport, availability of services, inadequate drugs or equipment, and costs, are the four major barriers for access.

What are barriers to accessing health and social care services?

Social Barriers Working during standard daytime hours so unable to access the service. Feeling a stigma surrounding that health condition (eg sexual health). Fear of being judged by the practitioner (eg drugs and alcohol related issues).

What are the barriers toward person with special needs?

Lack of participation of people with disabilities, inadequate data, statistics and evidence of what works, and inaccurate concerns over cost/difficulty of disability inclusion are further barriers to inclusion in development and humanitarian response.

What is the biggest barrier people with disabilities face?

Stereotyping, stigma, and discrimination are challenges people with disability face every day. Much of the disabled community faces exclusion from parts of society other people take for granted.

What are the barriers and challenges you aware of disability?

Persons with disabilities lack access to employment opportunities and even if they are able to get employment they face problems such as reasonable accommodation at work, accessible public transportation to get them to work and back and discrimination and ignorance about their potential at work.

What are the barriers to mental health for older adults?

While there are well known general barriers to help seeking across the population, specific barriers for older adults include difficulties with transportation, beliefs that it is normal to be anxious and depressed in old age, and beliefs by referrers that psychological therapy is less likely to be effective. This study examined barriers related to identifying the need for help, seeking help and participating in therapy in a clinical population of older adults.

What are the barriers to psychological therapy?

Therefore, research to date indicates that practical barriers such as difficulties with access, transportation or cost are likely to contribute to the low rates of psychological therapy use by older adults over the age of 64 years. Further, an attitude that anxiety and depression is normal in older adulthood by both depressed individuals and professionals are likely to be important barriers, as are beliefs amongst professionals in particular that psychological therapy is less effective with older adults. However, there are some other potential barriers that have not been well examined in this age group that may also be important. These include barriers related to the ability to identify the need for help. This is a difficult barrier to measure especially if individuals have not acknowledged the need for help. However, one method to investigate these barriers might be to ask treatment seeking older adults what had prevented them identifying the need for, and seeking help earlier. Anecdotally, older adults often report concerns about burdening others or taking the place of a needier patient, and a fear of being given medication. Therefore, more examination of these potential barriers is also needed. In addition, most of the previous research has been conducted in community samples, in which older adults may or may not actually have a mental health issue themselves, therefore more research is needed in older clinical samples to determine what barriers have stopped them from seeking help earlier, complying with treatment in the past, and what barriers exist when participating in current treatment.

What are the mental health problems of older adults?

With the ageing of the world's population, the number of older adults suffering mental health problems is set to increase. Anxiety and depression in older adulthood are two of the more common mental disorders and are associated with severe consequences including: life dissatisfaction, illness, and mortality (Henderson et al.,#N#Reference Henderson#N#1997; Wetherell et al.,#N#Reference Wetherell, Lenze and Stanley#N#2005 ), use of medication and health care services (Katon et al.,#N#Reference Katon, Lin, Russo and Unutzer#N#2003; Wetherell et al.,#N#Reference Wetherell, Lenze and Stanley#N#2005 ), and disability (Wetherell et al.,#N#Reference Wetherell, Lenze and Stanley#N#2005 ). However, national surveys from around the world consistently demonstrate that few older adults seek help for their psychological problems.

What are practical barriers?

Therefore practical barriers are common issues that prevent people of all ages to access help, but specific barriers such as transportation difficulties might be more of a barrier in older adults, particularly for the oldest adults.

How to check if participants allocated to the two treatment groups did not differ at pre-treatment?

To check that the participants allocated to the two treatment groups did not differ at pre-treatment, demographics were compared between groups using descriptive statistics and analysis of variance procedures. Chi-squared analyses were also used to examine differences in the frequency of the barriers between the two treatment groups reported at pre and post treatment, and a Bonferroni correction was applied to control for the multiple analyses ( p < 0.005).

How old are people with comorbid anxiety?

Method: Sixty older adults (aged 60 –79 years) with comorbid anxiety and unipolar mood disorders completed barriers to treatment questionnaires before and after psychological group treatment, as well as measures of cognitive ability, anxiety, depression, and quality of life at baseline.

What are the barriers to mental health?

While there are well known general barriers to help seeking across the population, specific barriers for older adults include difficulties with transportation, beliefs that it is normal to be anxious and depressed in old age, and beliefs by referrers that psychological therapy is less likely to be effective. This study examined barriers related to identifying the need for help, seeking help and participating in therapy in a clinical population of older adults.

What are the barriers to mental health for older adults?

Background: Older adults with mental health disorders underutilize mental health services more than other adults. While there are well known general barriers to help seeking across the population, specific barriers for older adults include difficulties with transportation, beliefs that it is normal to be anxious and depressed in old age, ...

What are the barriers to continuing therapy?

The main barriers reported for difficulties in continuing therapy included not finding therapy helpful, cost of treatment, and thinking that the therapist did not understand their issues. Conclusions: The main barriers identified related to issues with identifying the need to seek help. More attention is needed to educate older adults ...

How old are people with comorbid anxiety?

Method: Sixty older adults (a ged 60-79 years) with comorbid anxiety and unipolar mood disorders completed barriers to treatment questionnaires before and after psychological group treatment, as well as measures of cognitive ability, anxiety, depression, and quality of life at baseline.

What are the barriers to seeing a doctor?

The most common barriers to seeing a physician were the doctor’s lack of responsiveness to patient concerns, medical bills, transportation, and street safety. Low income, no supplemental insurance, older age, and female gender were independently related to perceptions of barriers. Race was not significant after adjustment for other factors.

Why is there a disparity in access to health care among the less able?

Disparity in access to health care among nonelderly Americans has been well documented. The primary reason for this disparity is lack of health insurance, either employer-sponsored or public.1–5Approximately 16% of Americans aged younger than 65 years were uninsured in 2000.6A large percentage of working-age Americans without coverage have histories of chronic conditions, including diabetes, heart disease, and depression.2The vast majority of these people delayed or did not receive needed care because of cost. Although the most important factor affecting the ability to use health services in the nonelderly is lack of insurance, other factors have also emerged. Factors highly correlated with lack of insurance, including race, income, and other sociodemographic characteristics, have been associated with lower health care use in younger populations.7–9

When were bivariate associations between specific aspects of access and sociodemographic characteristics Among Participants in the Cardiovascular Health?

Bivariate Associations Between Specific Aspects of Access and Sociodemographic Characteristics Among Participants in the Cardiovascular Health Study, 1993–1994

What are the reasons for avoiding treatment?

Decades of research supports common themes for avoiding treatment: cost, denial, stigma, work and lack of awareness or knowledge. Psychological characteristics, lifestyles and environmental factors all contribute to the excuses.

Why do people avoid treatment for drug addiction?

In a 2004 study published in the American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, injection drug users claimed that wanting to conceal their addiction from a spouse was the most common reason they avoided treatment.

Why do people with substance use disorders fear judgement?

People with substance use disorders fear the judgment of society, friends and loved ones because addiction has become stigmatized. A 2014 Johns Hopkins study found Americans are more likely to have negative opinions of people with substance use disorders than other mental illnesses.

Why are people reluctant to seek treatment for substance abuse?

People may be reluctant to seek addiction treatment because of high treatment costs and low accessibility, denial of their substance use disorder, societal stigma and time constraints. The vast majority of people who need treatment for substance use disorders do not seek it.

What is the most common response to substance use disorder?

“I don’t have a problem” might be the most common response people with substance use disorders give for not attending rehab. The other might be “I can quit on my own.”

What is DrugRehab.com?

DrugRehab.com provides information regarding illicit and prescription drug addiction, the various populations at risk for the disease, current statistics and trends, and psychological disorders that often accompany addiction. You will also find information on spotting the signs and symptoms of substance use and hotlines for immediate assistance.

How long does inpatient rehab last?

Insurance plans don’t always cover inpatient residential care or treatment for more than 30 days. In general, experts recommend at least 90 days of inpatient rehab for severe cases of addiction.

What is the highest level of discrimination in Alzheimer's care?

Findings from two national surveys conducted by the Alzheimer’s Association show that Black Americans reported the highest level of discrimination in dementia health care followed by Native Americans, Asian Americans, and Hispanic Americans.

What are the characteristics of health care systems that contribute to disparities?

These include implicit bias on the part of health care providers. Cultural and language barriers can also hinder patient-provider relationships.

How does dementia affect health disparities?

Health disparities can have a profound, negative effect on entire populations or individual communities. Dementia care and support services can vary widely depending on race, ethnicity, geography, and social and economic factors. Stigma, cultural differences, awareness, and understanding about Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias can all be factors leading to health disparities. In addition, the ability for a person to get a diagnosis, manage the disease, and be able to access quality health care contribute to health disparities.

How many physicians are black in the US?

Currently, only 1 in 3 US physicians are Black, American Indian or Alaska Native, Hispanic, or Asian. Primary care is more diverse with approximately 40% of physicians coming from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. Ensuring diversity in these frontline providers may help reduce future disparities in dementia care.

What are the factors that contribute to health disparities?

Stigma, cultural differences, awareness, and understanding about Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias can all be factors leading to health disparities. In addition, the ability for a person to get a diagnosis, manage the disease, and be able to access quality health care contribute to health disparities.

How to increase diversity in clinical research?

A critical first step to increase diverse participation and representation in clinical research is building and restoring trust in underrepresented communities. One way to do so is through community-based organizations and other respected local partners. The Healthy Brain Initiative State and Local Public Health Partnerships to Address Dementia: 2018–2023 Road Map, launched in partnership with the Alzheimer’s Association and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is organized around a core principle of “eliminating disparities and collaborating across multiple sectors.”

How many people will have Alzheimer's in 2060?

By 2060, the number of Alzheimer’s disease cases is predicted to rise to an estimated 14 million people, with minority populations being affected the most. 1. Cases among Hispanics will increase seven times over today’s estimates. Cases among African Americans will increase four times over today’s estimates.

Communication Barriers

  • Communication barriers are experienced by people who have disabilities that affect hearing, speaking, reading, writing, and or understanding, and who use different ways to communicate than people who do not have these disabilities. Examples of communication barriers include: 1. …
See more on cdc.gov

Physical Barriers

  • Physical barriers are structural obstacles in natural or manmade environments that prevent or block mobility (moving around in the environment) or access. Examples of physical barriers include: 1. Steps and curbs that block a person with mobility impairmentfrom entering a building or using a sidewalk; 2. Mammographyequipment that requires a woman with mobility impairme…
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Policy Barriers

  • Policy barriers are frequently related to a lack of awareness or enforcement of existing laws and regulationsexternal iconthat require programs and activities be accessible to people with disabilities. Examples of policy barriers include: 1. Denying qualified individuals with disabilities the opportunity to participate in or benefit from federally funded programs, services, or other be…
See more on cdc.gov

Programmatic Barriers

  • Programmatic barriers limit the effective delivery of a public health or healthcare program for people with different types of impairments. Examples of programmatic barriers include: 1. Inconvenient scheduling; 2. Lack of accessible equipment (such as mammography screening equipment); 3. Insufficient time set aside for medical examination and procedures; 4. Little or n…
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Social Barriers

  • Social barriers are related to the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, learn, work and age – or social determinants of health – that can contribute to decreased functioning among people with disabilities. Here are examples of social barriers: 1. People with disabilities are far less likely to be employed. In 2017, 35.5% of people with disabilities, ages 18 to 64 years, were e…
See more on cdc.gov

Transportation Barriers

  • Transportation barriers are due to a lack of adequate transportation that interferes with a person’s ability to be independent and to function in society. Examples of transportation barriers include: 1. Lack of access to accessible or convenient transportation for people who are not able to drive because of vision or cognitive impairments, and 2. Public transportation may be unavailable or a…
See more on cdc.gov

References

  1. World Health Organization, International classification of functioning, disability and health. Geneva:2001, WHO. p. 214.
  2. Houtenville, A. and Boege, S. (2019). Annual Report on People with Disabilities in America: 2018. Durham, NH: University of New Hampshire, Institute on Disability. Available at https://disabilityco...
  1. World Health Organization, International classification of functioning, disability and health. Geneva:2001, WHO. p. 214.
  2. Houtenville, A. and Boege, S. (2019). Annual Report on People with Disabilities in America: 2018. Durham, NH: University of New Hampshire, Institute on Disability. Available at https://disabilityco...
  3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, Division of Human Development and Disability. Disability and Health Data System (DHDS) D...

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