A Comparative Study of Quality of Life of Elderly People Living in Old Age Home and with Family of Vadodara City

QOL in elderly is more relevant towards an ageing society. In India, the awareness is very little about the special needs of the elderly and their care (physical & mental health, psychological and social support). Furthermore, among elderly there is a variation between those living in OAHs & those with family. Hence the present study was undertaken to assess and compare the QOL of elderly living with family and at OAHs. A comparative study was conducted on Quality of life of elderly with family and at OAHs of Vadodara city, Gujarat. QOL of elderly was assessed using WHO QOL - brief questionnaire after taking informed consent from the respondent. Data was analysed using SPSS and Excel programme. A total of 40 + 40 = 80 elderly people from living with family and living at OAHs were the study respondents. QOL was good of 67.5% in family and at OAHs it was 57.5%. The main reason for living in OAHs was no family, lack of care takers. All the questions were found to be highly statistically significant. From this study we are able to find out that QOL of elderly living with family is better than elderly living at OAHAs, psychologically many people were depressed asthey live separately from their family and relatives, friends and the community they lived.