A comparative study to assess the quality of life among the elder people living in rural and urban areas

Abstract

Introduction: Quality of life (QOL) is defined as the combination of an individual's functional health, feeling of competence, independence activities of daily living, and satisfaction of social circumstances. Aim: This study aimed to assess and compare the QOL among the elderly people in selected rural and urban areas of Uttar Pradesh. Materials and Methods: A quantitative nonexperimental comparative study research design was adopted for the study. The data were collected using convenience sampling technique. The total sample comprised 70 elder people, 35 each from the urban and rural areas. A standardized World Health Organization-QOL BREF questionnaire containing 26 items was used for assessing the QOL of the subjects. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 25. Results: The urban elders had better QOL in the only environmental domain (P = 0.003) than the rural population, and all the other domains such as physical (P = 0.45), psychological (P = 0.33), and social relationship (P = 0.42) did not have any significant difference. There was no association found between QOL among the elderly people in rural and urban areas with their selected sociodemographic variables. Conclusion: There is a significant difference in the environmental domain QOL among the elderly living in urban areas than the rural one. A qualitative approach can be used to explore comprehensive findings in future studies.