Authors : Sivapragasam R, Rajini S, Kannan K
DOI : 10.18231/j.ijfcm.2019.020
Volume : 6
Issue : 2
Year : 2019
Page No : 86-92
Introduction: Quality of life in elderly population of rural area is a neglected area in developing country. This study aims to assess the quality of life and its associated factors among elderly population residing in rural areas.
Materials and Methods: A community based cross sectional study was conducted among 221 elderly people from five villages in the catchment area of Sri Lakshmi Narayana Institute of Medical Sciences using Systemic Random sampling technique from March 2019 to June 2019. Quality of Life Scale developed through the World Health Organization (WHOQOL BREF) was used to collect data about quality of life, and sociodemographic details were also collected. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS version 21 and P<0>
Results: The mean age of our study population was 69.74±8.43, with males around 46.2% and females around 53.8%, around 80.1% illiterate and 76.92% belonging to socioeconomic class V. The overall QOL score of each domain were Physical domain 35.82±11.97, psychological domain 41.65±13.27, social 33.57±17.26, and environmental domain was 46.24±11.24. Musculoskeletal disorder was associated with physical and social domain scores and Diabetes status was associated with social domain scores. Education status and marital status was significantly associated with each domains
Conclusion: The study revealed environmental domain had higher QOL score and physical and social domain QOL scores were equally less. Newer policies and improvised programs should be considered to enrich the quality of life in elderly people of rural community. Further in depth studies can help to assess further more influential factors affecting QOL in elderly.
Keywords: Quality of life, Elderly, Rural population, Geriatric.