Homebound status and depressive symptoms form a feedback loop to influence each other. Improving the outdoor mobility of older adults may have immediate benefits for reducing depressive symptoms.
Disparities in access to primary health care have led to health disadvantages among Latinos and other non-White racial groups. To better identify and understand which policies are most likely to improve health care for Latinos, we examined differences in access to primary care between Latinos with proficient English language skills and Latinos with limited English proficiency (LEP) and estimated the extent of access to primary care providers (PCPs) among Latinos in the U.S. Method: We used agent-based modeling techniques to estimate the effects of English proficiency, insurance coverage, Latinos with LEP seeking care from English-speaking PCPs, distance to PCP, PCP availability, and Spanish-speaking PCP availability on access to primary care. We used NetLogo 6.0 to simulate a community of 10,000 Latinos seeking care for a 6-month period, running 5 controlled experiments to determine if population-level outcomes varied by scenario. Results: Models suggested that Latinos with LEP would likely delay care less often if policies were implemented to expand health insurance coverage, address linguistic barriers and promote an inclusive health care climate for patients with LEP, reduce mobility barriers, increase the number of PCPs, and train more Spanish-speaking PCPs. Conclusions: Findings support results from prior studies suggesting that policies and programs that help Latino patients overcome linguistic and cultural barriers to health care will improve Latinos' access to care.
Decline in depressive symptoms is a reliable predictor of improvement in self-efficacy and adherence to diabetes management. Further studies are recommended to study psychosocial mechanisms related to social relationships other than social support that affect diabetes management.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.