Quality of life of elderly persons residing at care homes in the Istrian County

CILJ ISTRAŽIVANJA: Procijeniti kvalitetu života i čimbenike koji utječu na kvalitetu života korisnika domova za starije i nemoćne osobe u Istarskoj županiji. USTROJ STUDIJE: Provedeno je presječno istraživanje. ISPITANICI I METODE:Ispitanike je činilo 110 korisnika istarskih domova za starije i nemoćne osobe, starijih od 65 godina, koji su dobrovoljno pristali sudjelovati u istraživanju i nisu bili u komi, vegetativnom stanju te nisu imali kognitivni deficit koji bi im onemogućio ispunjavanje upitnika uz pomoć druge osobe.Podatci su prikupljeni anonimnim standardiziranim anketnim upitnikom QOL-a. REZULTATI:Više je bilo ženskih ispitanika, udovica, sa završenom osnovnom i srednjom školom. Aritmetička sredina dobi ispitanika iznosila je 81,3 godine.Većina ima djecu, najčešće ih posjećuju djeca, više puta mjesečno. Kvaliteta života procijenjena je vrlo dobrom, najkvalitetnije je procijenjeno poštivanje dostojanstva, a najmanje kvalitetno provođenje smislenih aktivnosti i individualni pristup. Kvaliteta je višau privatnim domovima u usporedbi s državnim. Procjena kvalitete nije povezana s bračnim statusom, ali je uočena značajna povezanost s učestalošću posjeta i s time imaju li ispitanici djecu. ZAKLJUČAK:Kvaliteta života u istarskim domovima za starije osobe vrlo je dobra. Uočena je povezanost domena na QOL s većinom demografskih karakteristika, s time imaju li korisnici djecu te s učestalošću posjeta, kao i s vrstom doma (privatni, državni).U svim promatranim domovima identificirana su područja kvalitete života koja se mogu poboljšati.OBJECTIVES: Assess the quality of life and the factors affecting the quality of life of care home users in the Istrian County. TYPE OF STUDY: Cross-sectional study RESPONDENTS AND METHODS: The respondents were 110 users of the Istrian care homes for the elderly, over the age of 65, who voluntarily agreed to participate in the study and were not in a coma, vegetative condition and did not have a cognitive deficit that would prevent them from completing the questionnaire with the help of another person. The data were collected through an anonymous QOL questionnaire. RESULTS:There were more female respondents, widows, with completed primary and secondary education. The arithmetic mean of the respondents' age was 81.3 years Most of them have children and are mostly visited by children, several times a month.Quality of life is rated very good, and is higher in private care homes than in state-owned ones. The quality was not associated with marital status, however, a significant correlation was observed with the frequency of visits and whether respondents had children. CONCLUSION: The quality of life in the Istrian care homes for the elderly is very good. The QOL domains were associated with most demographic characteristics, with whether users have children, visitation frequency and type of homes (private, state-owned). Areas in which the quality of life could be improved were identified in all the care homes included in the study