SOCIAL CAPITAL, HEALTH STATUS, AND HEALTH SERVICES USE AMONG OLDER WOMEN IN ALMATY, KAZAKHSTAN

Understanding the determinants of health services use is essential for planning for effective services, particularly health care policies in a newly independent state, the Republic of Kazakhstan. The main purpose of this study is to examine the relative importance of social capital factors in affecting the variation in health status and use of health services, using structural equation modeling. The results show that health status is a strong predictor of health services use when the effect of social capital is held constant; and that social capital is directly linked with health status.