TY - JOUR
T1 - Quality of life of older adults and associated factors in Ghanaian urban slums
T2 - a cross-sectional study
AU - Attafuah, Priscilla Yeye Adumoah
AU - Everink, Irma
AU - Abuosi, Aaron Asibi
AU - Lohrmann, Christa
AU - Schols, Jos M.G.A.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.
PY - 2022/2/11
Y1 - 2022/2/11
N2 - ObjectiveThis study provides insight into the quality of life (QoL) of older adults living in urban slums in Ghana.DesignThe 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.SettingsParticipants were drawn from two slums in Ghana, one in a fishing-dominated community and the other in an industrial community.ParticipantsThis 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.ResultsAlthough 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.ConclusionsThe 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.
AB - ObjectiveThis study provides insight into the quality of life (QoL) of older adults living in urban slums in Ghana.DesignThe 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.SettingsParticipants were drawn from two slums in Ghana, one in a fishing-dominated community and the other in an industrial community.ParticipantsThis 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.ResultsAlthough 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.ConclusionsThe 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.
KW - geriatric medicine
KW - public health
KW - social medicine
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85124578520&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-057264
DO - 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-057264
M3 - Article
C2 - 35149573
AN - SCOPUS:85124578520
SN - 2044-6055
VL - 12
JO - BMJ Open
JF - BMJ Open
IS - 2
M1 - e057264
ER -