Hopelessness and quality of life in elderly: A community-based cross-sectional study

Introduction: Elderly population has a higher vulnerability to many physical and mental disturbances. These setbacks can lead to decreased quality of life (QOL) which may increase the feeling of hopelessness among the elderly. Aim: This study aims to assess the association between hopelessness and the QOL among the elderly in the community. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study involved 100 elderly people with 50 participants each from two different locations of South India. The study was conducted from February 2020 to December 2020 after obtaining the institutional ethics committee approval. Beck's Hopelessness Scale and the World Health Organization quality of life (WHOQOL)-BREF instrument were used to assess hopelessness and QOL. Results: The average age of the sample was 66.26 ± 5.29 years with a male predominance. The Beck's hopelessness score was greater in females, whereas the WHOQOL score was higher in males. We also found a significantly strong negative strength of association (Pearson's correlation score of − 0.954) between Beck's hopelessness score and WHOQOL scoring systems. Our study showed that hopelessness and QOL were significantly influenced by educational status, marital status, annual income, medical illness, psychiatric illness, and duration of hospital admissions. Conclusion: Elderly people with good financial stability are more secure with a higher QOL.