RESUMO
Objective:To evaluate the functional status and assistive facilities requirements for the elderly with disabilities in rural areas of Liaoning Province, and to provide reference for the configuration of assistive facilities and the construction of further rehabilitation management mode for the elderly with disabilities.Methods:A total of 929 disabled rural elderly people in 15 deep poverty-stricken areas in Liaoning Province from 2019 to 2020 were selected to evaluate the functional status and needs of assistive devices by using general information questionnaire, disability status questionnaire and assistive device evaluation form for disabled elderly people.Results:There were 149 cases (16.0%) with grade 1 disability, 465 cases (50.1%) with grade 2 disability, 178 cases (19.2%) with grade 3 disability and 137 cases (14.7%) with grade 4 disability. The elderly with disabilities mainly had difficulties in long-distance walking, bathing, toilet use, defecation control, short distance walking, squatting, and transfer. The proportion of disabled elderly was 89.8% (834/929), 84.9% (789/929), 82.6% (767/929), 79.9% (742/929), 76.6% (712/929), 76.1% (707/929) and 60.5% (562/929), respectively. With the increase of disability severity, bathing, short walking, metastasis, shopping and preparing meals accounted for the greater proportion of the elderly with disabilities, and the differences were statistically significant ( P< 0.01). The elderly with disabilities had the greatest demand for wheelchairs, followed by mattresses for preventing stress injuries and four-legged walking sticks, with a demand rate of 56.3% (523/929),9.4% (87/929) and 7.0% (65/929), respectively. The elderly with different levels of disability had different needs on ordinary wheelchair, pressured-injury mattress, four-legged walking stick, stool chair, wheelchair with toilet seat and common walking stick, and the needs had statistically significant differences ( P<0.01). Conclusions:The elderly with disabilities in rural areas of Liaoning Province are mainly moderate to severe, mainly physical disabilities, and have great obstacles in self-care and daily living activities, with the highest demand for ordinary wheelchairs, anti-stress injury mattresses and four-legged canes. In the future, further intervention measures and rehabilitation management models should be developed according to the assessment results of the functions and assistive devices of the elderly with disabilities in rural areas, so as to meet the nursing and rehabilitation needs of the elderly with disabilities and improve their life quality.