Determinantes de no-participación en el programa de alimentación complementaria de personas mayores, resultados de la CASEN 2015

Abstract

We focused on identifying and describing the main factors explaining non-withdrawal of food provided by the Complementary Food for Elderly People Program in Chile (PACAM). We used the information contained in the health section of the 2015 Casen survey. Methodologically, we used a binomial probabilistic logit model whose alternatives were whether an elderly person withdraws food (YES/NO) provided by the PACAM program. The model correctly classified 65.1% of cases with 59.6% sensitivity and 70.3% specificity. Results indicated that non-withdrawal occurs mainly by females and related to being the head of household, low social participation, living in urban areas, living near a health center, and the existence a long-term or permanent health problem. In conclusion, main findings show that elderly people who do not withdraw food provided by the PACAM program presented a high level of vulnerability. Therefore, access to the PACAM program is important to improve the quality of life by satisfying nutrition needs of elderly people.