مقایسه سطح مشارکت اجتماعی سالمندان استفاده‌کننده از وسایل کمک‌تحرکی با سالمندان بدون وسیله کمک‌تحرکی

Objectives: Social participation is an important aspect of health in ageing. It is also a part of life and a&nbsp;key element in function that improves physical and psychological health in the elderly. Using assistive&nbsp;mobility devices may influence social participation in this population. Current study aimed to compare&nbsp;social participation in older adults who use assistive mobility devices with those who do not use assistive&nbsp;devices in Tehran. Methods & Materials: In this cross-sectional study, older adults with and without assistive mobility devices&nbsp;were comprised in their social participation. Seventy-nine old age adults (39 women and 40 men)&nbsp;who were 60 years or older were recruited using convenience sampling method. They completed life&nbsp;habit, mini mental state and demographic questionnaires. For analyzing continuous data with normal&nbsp;distribution, t test and ANOVA were used, while Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests were used for&nbsp;categorical variables or those with non-normal distribution. Results: The finding indicates that older adults with assistive mobility devices engage less in social participation&nbsp;than those who do not use these devices (P<0.05). Older adults in age group of 60-74 years&nbsp;had higher social participation in comparison with those in 75-89 age group (P<0.05). There was no&nbsp;significant differences between male and females, and single older adults and married ones in their&nbsp;social participation. Conclusion: Type of assistive device affects social participation in older adults. The results suggest that&nbsp;older adults with higher physical ability have higher social participation. Older adults who use assistive&nbsp;devices face with more limitations to participate socially in their community. It is necessary for rehabilitation&nbsp;team to pay attention in improving social participation of older adults.