Differences among black, Hispanic, and white people in knowledge about long-term care services.

This article provides data obtained through telephone interviews with 1,608 white, black, Mexican American, or Puerto Rican respondents. The study was designed to measure differences among ethnic groups in knowledge and attitudes toward long-term care services and the extent to which knowledge and attitudes affect service use. Across all groups, there is less knowledge about long-term, community-based care than institutional services. The extent of knowledge about services is limited among all groups, but especially among Puerto Ricans. There are marked differences among groups in attitudes toward services. Minority groups are far more likely to perceive care of the elderly as a family responsibility and to stress the importance of ethnic factors in service delivery. Despite differences among groups, knowledge and attitudes are less directly related to use of services than is activity limitation. This may be because only a very small proportion of the respondents had any experience with service use.