Can community-based care moderate widowhood's health impact? -A longitudinal study among older Chinese adults

The plethora of pathways leading to health problems of later life has made the causal assessment of widowhood on the health of older adults difficult. This research aimed to assess the short-term impact of widowhood on the objective health of older adults and to the moderating role of community-based care (CBC) in improving the health outcomes of older adults. In this study, the activities of daily living (ADLs) and number of hospitalisations of older adults were measured, and PSM-DID models were conducted. Widowhood had a significant negative impact on the objective health of older adults. Widowed adults had higher ADL scores (B = 0.569, 95 percent CI: 0.295 to 0.844) and more hospitalisations (B = 2.551, 95 percent CI: 1.189 to 3.914) than nonwidowed adults. Meanwhile, CBC in urban areas can significantly reduce ADL scores (B = -0.154, SE = 0.082) and the number of hospitalisations (B = -1.402, SE = 0.348) in older adults, whereas CBC in rural areas can only significantly reduce ADL scores (B = -0.197, SE = 0.087). Taken together, there is an urgent need to focus on the health of widowed and older adults and to provide CBC in both urban and rural areas equally.