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Table 2 Poverty indicators, self-reported health status, and quality of life in participants with and without legal needs and comparisons between these two groups

From: Legal needs of patients attending an urban family practice in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada: an observational study of a legal health clinic

 

All survey respondents

N = 770

At least one legal need1

n = 648

No legal needs

n = 122

Has legal need versus

No legal needs

n (%)

n (%)

n (%)

p-value2

Household Income: Low-Income Measure 503

 Above LIM 503

134 (47.3)

86 (38.1)

48 (84.2)

p < 0.001

 Below LIM 503

149 (52.7)

140 (61.9)

9 (15.8)

 Total

283

226

57

Income Insecurity

 Yes

293 (38.1)

293 (45.2)

0 (0.0)

Not applicable4

 No

477 (61.9)

355 (54.8)

122 (100)

 Total

770

648

122

Cannot afford medication

 Yes

169 (21.9)

165 (25.5)

4 (3.3)

p < 0.001

 No

601 (78.1)

483 (74.5)

118 (96.7)

 Total

770

648

122

Food Insecurity

 Yes

89 (12.2)

88 (14.3)

1 (0.9)

p < 0.001

 No

641 (87.8)

529 (85.7)

112 (99.1)

 Total

730

617

113

Housing Insecurity

 Yes

80 (11.0)

77 (12.6)

3 (2.7)

p = 0.001

 No

645 (89.0)

536 (87.4)

109 (97.3)

 Total

725

613

112

Self-reported Health Status

 Excellent/Very good

298 (40.4)

226 (36.4)

72 (62.1)

p < 0.001

 Good/Fair

379 (51.4)

335 (53.9)

44 (37.9)

 Poor

60 (8.1)

60 (9.7)

0 (0.0)

 Total

737

621

116

Quality of Life

Mobility

 No problem

522 (71.5)

426 (69.4)

96 (82.8)

p = 0.003

 Some/Severe problems

208 (28.5)

188 (30.6)

20 (17.2)

Total

730

614

116

Self-care

 No problem

670 (92.0)

557 (90.9)

113 (98.3)

p = 0.004

 Some/Severe problems

58 (8.0)

56 (9.1)

2 (1.7)

Total

728

613

115

Performing usual activities

 No difficulty

477 (65.3)

379 (61.7)

98 (84.5)

p < 0.001

 Some/Severe difficulty

253 (34.7)

235 (38.3)

18 (15.5)

 Total

730

614

106

Pain and discomfort

 None

288 (39.4)

236 (38.4)

52 (44.8)

p = 0.214

 Some/Severe

443 (60.6)

379 (61.6)

64 (55.2)

 Total

731

615

116

Anxiety and depression

 None

349 (48.1)

271 (44.4)

78 (68.4)

p < 0.001

 Some/Severe

376 (51.9)

340 (55.6)

36 (31.6)

 Total

725

611

114

  1. Notes: 1 Participants with legal needs indicated by the Legal Health Check-Up survey; 2 p-value from Fisher’s Exact Test; 3Low Income Measure 50 (LIM-50) is the threshold for median (50th percentile) household income, adjusted for household size. Household size was asked on a follow-up survey, not baseline, so LIM-50 could only be calculated for 283 participants. 4Income insecurity was considered a legal need on the screening survey, hence this poverty indicator had a frequency of 0% for those without a legal need and it was not appropriate to run significance testing for this measure