Health-related Quality of Life and its Related Factors among the Elderly Residing in Nursing Homes of Ahvaz, Iran
Author(s): Nasrin Saadati, Ahmad Moradi, Mahin Salimi*, Ali Akbar Rajabi, Mostafa Alimehr, Ali Kord
Abstract
Background: The global growth of the elderly population is a major challenge for healthcare providers, family members, and the community in which the elderly live. In addition, quality of life is one of the most outstanding health goals for improving individuals’ health, which in recent years has been recognized as one of the most important factors in people’s lives, especially the elderly and those with disabilities. Therefore, it is necessary to determine the quality of life and its related factors in these individuals. The present study aimed at evaluating quality of life and its effective factors in the elderly living in the nursing homes of Ahvaz.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 150 elderly aged 60 years and above who were living in nursing homes in Ahvaz, Iran. They had been selected by census method. The inclusion criteria were as follows: Aged equal to or more than 60 years and consent to participate in the study. Data collection instrument included two subscales: The sociodemographic factors (age, gender, education level, marital status and co-morbidity) and the World health Organization’s Quality of Life (WHOQOL-BREF) questionnaire. The data were analysed using the SPSS software version 16 and through descriptive-analytic statistics such as frequency distribution, independent t-student test and analysis of variance (ANOVA). P-values less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant.
Findings: The quality of life, mean score was 53.66 ± 10.58. The results depicted that the physical health domain mean score was 48.67 ± 10.70, which was smaller than other domains. Social relationship domain had the highest mean score as 54.40 ± 8.23. The males’ quality of life scores were higher than females’. The results obtained from investigating the relationship between health-related quality of life and personal-social and clinical factors indicated that age (p=0.047), sex (p=0.001), marital status (p=0.019) educational attainment (p=0.001), and associated illness (p=0.002) have significant differences with quality of life.
Conclusion: Quality of life in the elderly population is at a moderate level. The research findings indicate that there is a serious need for planning and action to help elderly people for improvement and promotion of their general health and quality of life.
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