A Study on Quality of Life according to Social Support of Elderly in the Rural Area

Choi, Yeon Hee

Abstract

PURPOSE
This study was conducted to investigate quality of life according to social support of elderly in the rural area. METHOD: The subjects of this study were 199 people aged over 60 who had been living in three rural areas. Date was collected through questionnaires from July 10th, to August 10th, 2003. RESULT: The most socially supportive people they answered were friends(80.9%), followed by children(74.9%), neighbors(71.9%), siblings(55.8%), spouse(53.3%), in descending order. Mean social support score for spouse was 13.36, for children 13.27, for friends 11.40, for neighbors 10.21, for siblings 10.20. A comparison of the average grade points per items according to the offerers of social support revealed spouse support(13.36 out of 18), children support(13.27), friends support(11.40), neighbor support(10.21), siblings support(10.20). The average of the quality of life score was 132.26 out of 220. A comparison of the average grade points per items within sub-areas of quality of life revealed the highest score of neighbor relationships(4.29 out of 5.00) and the lowest score of economic conditions (2.61) Quality of life scores correlated positively with social support scores(r=.734, p<.001). Variables significantly influencing quality of life were spouse support(36.1%), neighbor support (5.1%), age(2.2%), religion(1.7%). These variables explained 45.1% of the variance in quality of life. CONCLUSION: Social support for elderly people in rural areas identified this as a greatly effective factor for their quality of life. Therefore, it is necessary to develop health promotion programs connected with social support in order to enhance the quality of elderly people in rural areas.