Mental health is the most important factor influencing quality of life in elderly left behind when families migrate out of rural China1

OBJECTIVES to investigate the quality of life and the associated factors on left behind elderly in rural China. METHOD the research was conducted cluster sampling to select 456 elderly left behind when family members migrated out of rural China to participate in a cross-sectional study by completing a general data questionnaire and Quality of Life questionnaire. RESULTS 91.5% of the elderly requested psychological counseling and education. For the elderly, scores for mental health (39.56±13.73) were significantly lower compared with Chinese standard data (61.6±13.7) (P<0.001). Age, chronic disease type, gender, residence pattern and economic support from children were the main psychological factors influencing this population. CONCLUSION mental health is the most important factor influencing quality of life of elderly left behind when family members migrated out of rural China. Our study suggested a need to widely establish a general practitioner team for psychological intervention for improving rural elderly people's Quality of Life level, especially in the psychological domain.