Quality of life of older adults and associated factors in Ghanaian urban slums: a cross-sectional study
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Date
2022
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
BMJ
Abstract
Objective This study provides insight into the quality of
life (QoL) of older adults living in urban slums in Ghana.
Design The study employed a community-based,
cross-sectional
design to assess QoL among older adults in two
slums between April and May 2020. QoL was assessed
using the WHO Quality of Life-Brief
version (WHOQOL-BREF)
questionnaire.
Settings Participants were drawn from two slums in
Ghana, one in a fishing-dominated
community and the
other in an industrial community.
Participants This study included 400 participants aged
60 and above who had lived in either slum for at least
1 month and were able to communicate verbally.
Results Although the means of all participants’
transformed scores were poor in the physical and
psychological domains, they were moderate in all other
domains. When viewed as a whole, the perceived overall
QoL is neither poor nor good and participants were neither
satisfied nor dissatisfied with their health. Participants
had a moderate level of QoL in the WHOQOL-BREF
psychological (mean score 45.7), social (mean score
57.0) and environmental (mean score 51.6) domains. The
mean score for physical QoL of older adults was 43.3,
which denotes poor QoL. In all domains, male participants
have a significantly higher mean QoL than their female
counterparts. An analysis of variance comparing the
living arrangements of participants showed that those
who lived with extended family had high mean scores
in environmental QoL, overall QoL and satisfaction with
health. Regression analysis revealed that QoL was
influenced mostly by the environmental (46.2%), followed
by the psychological (43.7%), physical (31%) and social
(20.4%) domains.
Conclusions The findings from this study show that older
adults living in slums had moderate psychological, social
and environmental QoL and poor physical QoL. Although
the mean scores for QoL are higher than anticipated,
health policy development must take into account the
specific needs of older adults.
Description
Research Article