Self-care and its predictive role in the quality of life of the elderly living in the community

Introduction: Quality of life is one of the important issues in today's health care. Despite the high importance of self-care and quality of life in improving the health of the elderly, unfortunately, this issue has not been sufficiently addressed in Iran. The aim of this study was to determine the predictive value of self-care capacity of elderly people in improving their quality of life in Bojnourd in 2017. Method: This is a descriptive-analytical study that was carried out by sampling 180 elderly people using a multi-stage cluster sampling method among elderly people living in the city of Bojnourd during the months of August to September. The instruments used in this study were demographic variables, quality of life questionnaire (SF12), self-care capacity questionnaire for elderly people (SASE). SPSS software version 21 was used to describe and analyze the data. Descriptive and analytical statistics such as Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, Mann-Whitney U., Spearman correlation coefficient and multivariable regression analysis were used. Results: The mean age in this study was 69.5 ± 6. The average self-care ability score was 65.44 ± 6.23 and the mean score of quality of life was 26.22 ± 12.26. Among women, about 86 percent of them had low self-care. The relationship between self-care capacity and quality of life was week and was not statistically significant (P<0.05). Also, the predictive power of self-care power to gain higher scores in quality of life was not statistically significant (P<0.05). Conclusion: Considering the low self-care capacity of most elderly people in Bojnourd city and especially the elderly women of this city, it is recommended that factors affecting self-care capacity be investigated and planned and measures taken to improve the status of self-care capacity by the relevant authorities. Take up Self-care can not predict changes in the quality of life in the elderly.