Assess and compare health related quality of life among elders who live in their own home and elderly care homes

Abstract

Objectives: Health Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) of elderly population is emphasized with the medical and public health advances. This study was conducted to assess the HRQOL of elders who live in their own home and elderly care homes.

Methods: Descriptive cross sectional study was carried out in Elderly Care Homes (ECH) and Own Homes (OH) of elderly people in Minuwangoda Pradeshiya Sabha. Data were collected from elderly (> 60 years of age) people using interviewer administered Short Form health survey questionnaire (SF 36) and a form designed for recording demographic data. Informed consent was obtained. Ethical approval was obtained from the ethical review committee of the Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Sri Jayewardenepura. Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21.

Results: Out of eight domains of SF 36, mean score of physical health of elders who live in their OH was 59.38±16.37, while that of elders who live in ECH was 46.04±16.00. Total mental health of elders who live in their OH and ECH scored 51.64±8.62 and 46.08±8.06 respectively. The elders live in ECH showed lowest mean score (23.10±40.99) for the domain of role limitation due to emotional problems while the mean score of elders who live in their OH were relatively high (48.02±41.79). Mean score of total quality of life of elders who live in their OH and ECH were 57.87±14.54 and 46.85±13.79 respectively.

Conclusions: Health related quality of life of elderly people who live in their OH was higher than that of elderly people who live in ECHs.