| Learning Objective #1: Understand the various ways in which older farm residents define good health and the prevalence of these definitions | |||
| Learning Objective #2: Identify both correlates and predictors of this definition of good health among elder farm residents |
Method: The data are from the baseline interview of a longitudinal study of 1,423 Kentucky and South Carolina farm residents aged 50 and over. Participants were surveyed about their definition of health, health conditions, recent injuries, satisfaction with farm work, work practices, and demographic characteristics. Respondents were grouped by whether they defined health as ability to work versus absence of pain, disease, or not having to take medication. Bivariate analysis consisted of t-tests, Wilcoxon tests, and chi-square tests. Predictors of health definition were determined using logistic regression.
Results: Nearly one-half of participants (42%) characterized health as the ability to work, compared with the remaining 58% who chose lack of physical distress (i.e., no pain, disease or medications). This binary health definition was unrelated to age, gender, education, state of residence, number of health conditions, or number of injuries. There were associations between health definition and number of farm tasks completed in the past year, hours spent doing farm work in the past week, and satisfaction with farm work. Controlling for age, gender, and education, number of farm tasks completed in the past year was a significant predictor of health definition, with increased odds of choosing ‘ability to work' as the definition with increasing farm tasks performed.
Conclusion: For an older working population the definition of health may be driven by what the person can accomplish rather than by physical symptoms or medical treatment. When providing care, nurses should consider the importance of work to the patient.