Quality of Elderly's Life in Shiraz, Jahandidegan Club

Objectives: Aging is a personal and social experience. while experiences may cause happiness for some individuals, it may cause sadness or tedious in the others. Making decision and planning aimed to improve elderly quality of life among older people, require identification of their problems . Methods & Materials: This study was a cross–sectional study conduced in Jahandidegan Club Foundation for elderly in 2007. Participants were 232 elderly women aged 60–79 years old recruited through a random zed sampling. Data collection was conducted through LEIPAD questionnaire including two domains (essential domain and simplify domain). Data were analyzed using T-test, ANOVA and linear regression in SPSS. Results: The results indicated that there was a significant difference between QOL mean scores (in each of the two domains and total score)and marital status (P<0.05), as singles had better scores in total than divorced and the other groups, Widowed and divorced elderly women had lower QOL scores than married. QOL scores (in each two domain and total score) were strongly correlated with educational level however, only in essential domain a significant difference was observed (P=0.047). QOL mean score decreased with increasing age (P<0.05). There was a significant difference between QOL scores (in essential domain and total score) with age of the elderly women, there was also a significant difference between QOL scores (in each two domain and total score) with income (P<0.05), QOL mean increased with increasing income. There was a significant difference between QOL mean (in each two domain and total score) with existence chronic disease (P<0.05). Conclusion: Results of this study demonstrated some factors such as disease, level of education, marital status, age, income and job may affect quality of elderly's life, Therefore these factors need to be considered in planning and solving older people's problems.