Factors Influencing Access to Health Care among Elderly Persons in Informal Settlements in Nakuru Town, Kenya

Abstract

Growing old is appealing to people from various cultures around the world. This is because many people can learn through the experience of the elderly when solving different rising issues in the society. In Kenya, health care discussion has emerged to set the pace on how to care for the elderly population. However, this can be a challenge to the old population and also there is lack of support from their family as well as the community. The general objective of the study is to investigate factors that influence access to health care among elderly persons in informal settlements in Nakuru Town, Kenya. The specific objectives of the study were to: examine the influence of family support; establish the influence of cultural beliefs; analyse the influence of social protection; and assess the influence of transportation system on access to health care among elderly persons in informal settlements Nakuru Town, Kenya. The study was based on the Disengagement theory, Social Dependency Theory, and Health Belief Model (HBM). A descriptive research design was used to target both the elderly men and women of 70 years and above, within the informal settlements in Nakuru Town, Kenya. Cluster sampling and simple random sampling techniques were used to select 399 respondents from a target population of 248,785 elderly persons. The research instrument was a semi-structured survey questionnaire. A pilot study was conducted in Kibera in Nairobi city to assess validity and reliability of the instrument. Data analysis involved the use of descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages, as well as, inferential statistics mainly cross-tabulation with chi-square. The analysis was aided by Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 27 software. Results are graphically and thematically presented. Results showed that the majority of the respondents (70.3%) had low access to health care services. Equally, access to health care services is influenced by family factors particularly material and emotional support from family members. It is also influenced by cultural issues including beliefs on traditional medicine and taboos, as well as, social protection programmes specifically cash transfers, government interventions in health care, and retirement benefits. In addition, access to health care is influenced by transportation factors including cost of transport, access to transportation programmes, and means of transport used to reach health care facilities. Based on these findings, the study recommends that policy makers should create awareness regarding the need for families to support the elderly kin and the ongoing government interventions such as health insurance subsidy programme (HISP), conscientising the general public on the importance of the enrolment on retirement benefit schemes and equally saving for their own support in old age.