Self-Esteem, Health Status and Life Satisfaction in Elderly Women According to the Spouse's Perspective

Shin, Hye Sook

Abstract

PURPOSE
This study was designed to identify degrees of self-esteem, health status, and life satisfaction in elderly women and investigate the relationship between these factors. The results will contribute to effective nursing intervention for promoting the quality of life for elderly women. METHOD: The subjects of this study included 129 elderly women. The data was collected through personal interviews using questionnaires from Nov. to Dec. of 2000. The measurement tools were the self-esteem scale developed by Rosenberg and translated by Byong-Je Jong (1974), the health status scale developed by Young Ja Lee (1989), and the life satisfaction scale developed by Jin Youn (1982). The data was analyzed by the SPSS computer program, and it included descriptive statistics, x2-test, t-test and the pearson correlation coefficient. RESULT: The conclusions of this study are summarized as follows: 1. There was a significant difference in age (x2=12.952, p=.000), religion (x2=6.140, p=.000), spending money (x2=.7.511, p= .000), living expenses load (x2=16.189, p= .000), and the major support provider (x2=6.539, p=.000), according to general characteristics in the existence elderly women. 2. There was a significant difference in self-esteem (t=7.05, P=.000), Health status (t=-10.09, P=.000), and life satisfaction (t=6.62, P=.000) between the two groups. 3. There was a significant positive correlation between self-esteem and health status (r=.406, P=.000), self-esteem and life satisfaction (r=.524, P=.000), and health status and life satisfaction (r=.504, P= .0000) in elderly women.