Influence of psychological characteristics and social relations on receiving preventive home visits in older men and women

The purpose was to analyze whether psychological characteristics and social relations in older men and women were related to accepting and receiving preventive home visits during 3 years, when offered as part of a national scheme. The study was based on secondary data from the Danish Intervention Study on Preventive Home Visits in 34 municipalities. The study population included 3,377 men and women who answered questions about psychological characteristics and social relations at baseline, survived and took part in the three year follow-up study. Number of preventive home visits was registered during 3 years in a specially designed software installed in the municipalities. Psychological characteristics were measured by questions on sadness, aggressiveness, life satisfaction, mood, loneliness and sense of coherence. Social relations were measured by questions on cohabitation status, diversity in social relations and social participation. Covariates included age and disability. Older men with poor psychological rating on most of the variables had larger odds ratios of accepting and receiving preventive home visits compared to older men with higher ratings. Older women with poor rating on the psychological characteristics and high social participation had larger odds of accepting and receiving preventive home visits, and women with a strong sense of coherence had larger odds of receiving many visits. It is concluded that psychological characteristics and social relations in older persons seem to influence whether they accept and receive preventive home visits, but patterns of associations are complex and vary for men and women.