Access to general practitioners and unmet health care needs among multimorbid older adults and coping outcomes

Project Summary

Many Canadians report difficulty obtaining timely access to primary and referred care. Particularly, multimorbid older adults with two or more chronic conditions are at higher risk of care needs, which in turn can result in unmet health needs and compromised adaptation/coping with their condition. Yet, there is a lack of studies that explore the association between having a regular general practitioner (GP) and unmet needs, especially focusing on multimorbid older adults. Furthermore, there is a gap in the literature as to whether to what extent this results in maladaptive outcomes. The current study aims to investigate how GP access affects unmet healthcare needs among older adults and the effect that this potentially has on adaptation/coping using measures of life satisfaction and resilience (the ability to adapt and bounce back from adversity). We utilize longitudinal data to separate potentially complex associations among these variables, including covariates.