Elderly people’s perspectives on quality of life in the example of patients in ambulatory and institutional care

Introduction:
Contrary to stereotypical beliefs, elderly people’s perceptions about quality of life are not always negative. Paying attention to the elderly living in a family house or in various institutions is important. Quality of life assessment should become an inherent part of diagnosis and treatment as the results of the study can be used in preventive treatment of many illnesses.

Material and methods:
The study was conducted among 236 randomly selected individuals aged 60 and over who received rehabilitation services at the medical rehabilitation center in Ptaszkowa or were admitted to a care and treatment facility in Nowy Sącz. For the purposes of the study, a diagnostic survey was used, the technique of which was a questionnaire and the tools were the authors’ own survey questionnaire and the WHOQOL-AGE scale.

Results:
The value of Cramér’s V coefficient between the overall quality of life score according to the WHOQOL-AGE and the type of medical care received by the patient was V = 0.579. It was significantly higher among those receiving institutional care than those receiving outpatient treatment. The analysis concerning assessment of a correlation between the quality of life score according to the WHOQOL-AGE scale and all the analyzed sociodemographic factors showed statistically significant differences.

Conclusions:
Subjective perception of quality of life is determined by the type of medical care received by the patient. There is a correlation between the type of medical care received and overall quality of life in female patients, urban residents, patients aged over 75 as well as those with primary education, regardless of the type of work performed in the past.