Quality Of Life Related To Elderly Population In Trivandrum City, Kerala State-A Study

Abstract

There are few studies in India dedicated to the wellbeing of elderly and their health problems, inparticular to their mental health and their quality of life.
Aim: The aim of this study is to assess the quality of life among the elderly population residing especially in the Trivandrum City, Kerala State and also to find out the factors influencing their quality of life.
Material and Methods: All elderly people aged 60years and above residing in Trivandrum City, Kerala State was involved in the study. With a non-response rate of 6.2%, total of 476 elderly person’s quality of lifewas studied using Self Prepared Questionnaire. The results were expressed in terms of mean and SE of mean.Student T tests and one way ANOVA were applied to compare the mean scores of different variables under the fourdomains.
Results: The mean QOL score for all the elderly persons put together was 47.59 ± 14.56, indicating that on an average,the population as a whole had moderate quality of life. The highest score was for the social relationship domain withmean 56.6 and standard deviation of 19.56 and the lowest was for physical domain with mean score of 45 and standarddeviation 11.84.