Use of Senior Center Services of the Elderly Chinese Immigrants

Abstract

Using the Andersen-Newman service utilization framework, this study examined the factors explaining different types of senior center service use among a random sample of elderly Chinese. Although most of the elderly Chinese visit a senior center regularly, there is a substantial underutilization of support services. The findings also show that the predictors of use vary for different types of senior center services. While the use of acculturation services is predicted by age of the users, the use of recreation services is better explained by place of origin and negative affect. The use of task assistance services is best explained by gender, satisfaction toward services and negative affect. The use of support services is predicted by living arrangement, satisfaction toward services and fewer mental health symptoms. Finally, the frequency of drop-in is predicted by gender, place of origin and satisfaction toward services. The implications of these findings to social work practice with elderly Chinese are discussed in the paper.