Health Needs Assessment of the Elderly with Chronic Diseases in Thuy Chau Ward, Huong Thuy Town, Vietnam

Introduction: Health needs of the elderly with chronic diseases are the common health issues in Vietnam health system. Therefore, managing the growth of aging society requires the actual needs assessment. The study aimed to determine the needs and the sufficient assistance for the elderly and identify the relationship between socio-demographic factors and needs of elderlies in community in Thuy Chau Ward, Huong Thuy Town, Vietnam. Methodology: This was a cross-sectional study in Thuy Chau Ward, a rural area of Vietnam with 407 persons over 60 years who have at least one chronic disease were randomly sampled. The Camberwell Assessment for The elderlyi (CANE) questionnaire was translated to Vietnamese; and validity and reliability test were performed. The Cronbach's Alpha coefficient was 0.8. Chi-square test was used for measuring the correlation between socio-demographic factors and needs. Results: Cardiovascular diseases were the most common chronic diseases at 72.7%, followed by diabetes at 5.9% and asthma/COPD at 4.9%. The majority of the elderly did not need support or who need help also received enough support for their condition. The proportion of un-met needs in the area accidental selfharm was highest with 11%, followed by the eyesight/hearing/communication at 5.2%. There were the significant relationships between gender with need (p<0.05). Conclusions: Given the evidence from this study, action to meet the needs of the elderly with chronic diseases in the community is clearly urgent. Further research findings are required to explore health needs among the elderly with chronic disease regarding the needs assessed person's and family member's participation in the needs assessment process.