Quality of life and aging atti̇tude in elderly: Başkent University Ankara Hospital study

Aging of the population is an emerging phenomenon all around the world. According to United Nations projections in 2003, the most dramatic increase in the proportion of elder people will be evident in the oldest segment of society (people aged 80 years and over with an almost fivefold increase from 69 million in 2000 to 377 million in 2050).Quality oflife (QOL) was defined by the World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL) Group as "individuals' perception of their position in life in the context of culture and value systems in which they live, and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards and concerns" (The WHOQOL Group, 1993,1995). In this study, it is aimed to evaluate older adults' perceptions about quality of life (QOL) and their attitudes to aging in a sample of a university hospital in Ankara. We also aimed to explain the relations between QOL and attitudes to aging. This quantitative and descriptive research investigated QOL and attitudes towards aging in older adults in Turkey. Data was collected from the Turkish version of the WHO Quality of Life Instrument Older Adults Module (WHOQOL-OLD) and Turkish version of the WHO-Europe Attitudes to Aging /EAAQ) questionnaire. All scale dimension scores were compared according to demographic characteristics by statistical t-test and variance analysis. The questionnaires were administered to randomly selected 200 elder adults (≥ 65 years) who applied to the family medicine department of a university hospital and volunteered for the study. As a result, significant positive correlations among the dimensions of QOL and aging attitude (AA) were obtained. Also total scores of QOL and AA were significantly correlated.Moreover QOL dimension scores were significantly correlated to AA dimension scores. Whereas age and gender were significantly related to psychosocial loss dimension, education was significantly related to psychosocial growth, physical change and total aging attitude scores. Additionally higher educated subjects (university degree) had higher mean scores. The presence of a disease was significantly related to physical change and total aging attitude scores. Changes in living environments were significantly correlated to physical change dimension. The results of this study could be helpful to determine the QOL and AA of elders who apply to family physicians, which will help to improve primary care services for elderly people and broaden our horizons in this challenging issue. Keywords: Aging, quality of life, aging attitude