The Factors Influencing Utilization of the Personal Assistance Services for the Visually Impaired People

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to find out the factors affecting utilization of the personal assistance service for the visually impaired people and to examine whether or not utilization of the personal assistance service is equitable for them. Andersen’s behavior model was used for this purpose. The behavior model used consisted of the two groups of factors which represented individual and contextual characteristics. The both groups of factors consisted of the predisposing, enabling and need factors. The 286 visually impaired people were surveyed and the logit and hierarchical multiple regression analysis were used for the data analysis. It was found that the need factors of the individual and contextual characteristics had the most high explanatory power. Specifically, the level of impairment and main care giver’s physical care burden were the most significant factors affecting utilization of the personal assistance service. However, the level of activity of daily living was not an important factor influencing utilization. Therefore, utilization of the personal assistance service revealed limited equity. The enabling factor such as whether or not the visually impaired person had jobs also significantly affected utilization. Policy recommendations such as improvement of the need assesment instrument and increase of service hours for the working visually impaired people were made.