Abstract
This presentation will report on findings from a study conducted among 10,451 Korean older adults (65+) sampled through the 2014 Survey of Living Conditions and Welfare Needs of Korean Older Persons. The study had three objectives. First, to investigate whether chronic illnesses influenced multidimensional disability among Korean older adults; secondly, to analyze whether service-related environmental factors affected the multidimensional disability and thirdly, to test whether the service-related environmental factors moderated the association between chronic illnesses and multidimensional disability. Using the ICF as a conceptual model, the data was analyzed using structural equation modeling. For the purpose of this study, the multidimensional disability was composed by the following three dimensions: psychological/emotional functions, activity capacity and participation frequency; and the service-related environmental factors were composed by the following two factors: accessibility and infrastructure. Key findings showed that the higher the number of chronic illnesses the higher the level of multidimensional disability. Better accessibility to welfare facilities had a positive effect on all three dimensions of disability, and better infrastructure proved to increase the level of activity capacity, although it had no statistically significant association with participation frequency. Furthermore, the analysis showed that the better infrastructure the lower psychological and emotional functions among older adults. Infrastructure had a moderating effect on the association between chronic illnesses and multidimensional disability. Based on these findings, I argue that there is an urgent need to enhance older Koreans’ health status. The findings furthermore suggest that an increase in the number of welfare facilities and accessibility to these facilities can play an essential role in reducing the level of multidimensional disability and alleviating the negative influence of chronic illnesses on multidimensional disability among Korean older adults.