Happiness among the Disabled Elderly: A Study based on Micro Data in Udonthani Thailand
Keywords:
happiness, disability, elderlyAbstract
The objective of this study is to investigate the factors affecting the happiness of the elderly having to cope with disabilities. The panel data set consists of 246 home- and bed-bound elderly citizens drawn from the Thai Health Promotion Foundation data for the years 2015 and 2016 and a random effects model is used to analyze happiness-related equation. The results show that happiness increases with 1) household income, 2) level of health status of the respondent measured by the Barthel Index for Activities of Daily Living (ADL), and 3) satisfaction with the long-term care program or home visits implemented by the government, whereas happiness decreases with living alone. Furthermore, despite the fact that satisfaction with government care programs affects the happiness of the elderly, the frequency of home visit service variable does not significantly affect happiness at all. It can be implied that if happiness is a principle goal driving the governments’ long-term care policy, the quality of care seems to be more important in terms of the happiness of the disabled elderly than the regularity of such services
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