N. Rafati , P Yavari, Y Mehrabi , A Montazeri ,
Volume 3, Issue 2 (3 2005)
Abstract
The population of most countries in the word has been growing older during the last 30
years. This trend is important because it leads to a predictable increasing burden of
diseases, political, social and economic challenges. The objective of this study was to
assess health related quality of life and relating factors in institutionalized elderlies living
in “Kahrizak Charity Institution for elder people, in Tehran, Iran”.
In this cross sectional research 202 persons aged 65 years and above who were residing in
the institution for at least 6 months and able to answer our questions were studied. We used
the Iranian version of the SF-36 questionnaire to measure quality of life. Data were
collected by face to face interviews. For comparing quality of life between different groups
we used non-parametric tests.
The mean age of participants was 76.8 (SD=±7.6) years and 58.5% were female.The
results showed significant relation between the participants’quality of life scores and
variables such as gender, educational level, working in the institution’s workshop,
receiving pension, having different types of fractures, deformities, and arthrosis.
The study findings indicated that quality of in this group of elderly people was poor and it
needs to be improved.