Relationship Between Social Capital and Quality of Life (QoL) Among the Elderly Patients Experienced Traumatic Events

Background and Objectives: The quality of life (QoL) of the elderly can be declined by several factors. Social capital is one of the effective factors for improving the QoL. This study aims to determine the relationship between social capital and QoL in the elderly hospitalized due to traumatic events. Methods: This is a descriptive-correlational study. The study population consists of all older patients aged 65 years and higher admitted to selected hospitals in Qom, Iran from September 2019 to September 2020 due to experiencing traumatic events. of these, 330 were selected using a non-probability sequential sampling method. Data collection tools were Onyx and Bullen’s social capital questionnaire, the Leiden-Padua quality of life questionnaire, and a demographic checklist. Data were analyzed in SPSS v. 26 software using descriptive statistics and statistical tests including Spearman correlation test, Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis test, and multivariate regression analysis. The significance level was set at 0.05. Results: The mean age of participants was 70±4.6 years; 49% were male and 51% were female. The mean scores of social capital and quality of life were 67.6±13.5 and 51.6±17.4, respectively. A positive and significant correlation was observed between social capital and quality of life (r=0.719, P<0.05). Social capital had a significant relationship with marital status (P=0.000), place of residence (P=0.001), insurance coverage (P=0.000) and level of education (P=0.000). Conclusion: Social capital has a relationship with the quality of life in the elderly experiencing traumatic events. For successful aging and to anticipate its prerequisites, the strengthening and improvement of social capital is important.