Factors influencing physical care seeking behaviour of elderly widows of Puducherry District

Elderly widows substantially seek physical care/assistance for various day-to-day activities as most of them live longer, and a large number of them live alone.

To understand the extent of seeking physical care/assistance and to explore the factors influencing the care seeking behaviour of elderly widows.

Primary data has been collected from 390 elderly widows (30 PSUs comprising 20 rural villages and 10 urban wards) in the Puducherry district. The extent of seeking physical care/assistance for three, day-to-day activities, viz., cooking food, visiting temples/shopping and visiting post office/bank, are treated as the dependent variable, and selected background characteristics of respondents are independent (explanatory) variables.

Nearly 64% of elderly widows reported they sought physical care/assistance for one or the other day-to-day activities. Results based on cross-tabular analysis with a Chi-square test of significance showed differentials in the magnitude of seeking physical care/assistance by elderly widows are largely on the expected lines (significant at different levels) across their background characteristics under study, except for place of residence. Findings from multivariate logistic regression analysis highlighted that those in their advanced age (76+ years), belonged to medium and large-size families (2-4 and 5+ members), have 1-2 and 3+ daughters and experiencing one or more physical disabilities are seeking physical care/assistance significantly (P < 0.001, P < 0.01 or P < 0.05) to a greater extent than their respective counterparts. Conversely, the elderly whose functioning ability (IADL) is moderate and higher level and owning a house have exhibited a lesser tendency to seek such physical care/support. Theoretical explanations and policy implications are discussed.