By understanding variables associated with elders' quality of life, nurses can coordinate interventions to improve their quality of life. Poorly educated rural women who live alone are particularly vulnerable. Nursing assessment of quality of life indicators and implementation of strategies for increased social support are needed for high-risk elders.

Healthcare providers should conduct depression screening for elderly residents with stroke on admission to long-term care facilities. Regular assessment and monitoring of depressive symptoms, especially in residents with less formal education and limited physical functions, are important in nursing homes and intermediate-care facilities.

Quality of life (QOL) is an index of the state of wellness of an individual. The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument to measure quality of life of patients with hyperhidrosis. With a multidimensional model of QOL as the conceptual framework for instrument development, the study started from literature review which was followed by interviews with patients, staff nurses, and doctors to generate the original items for the instrument. The validity and reliability then were assessed. Six experts performed content validity (CVI = .70). Internal consistency and construct validity assessment followed. A quantitative research method was used in this study. During March 2002 to April 2003, 85 patients from the surgical outpatient clinic at a teaching hospital in southern Taiwan were purposively recruifed as subjects. Written consent was obtained before subjects answered a questionnaire that should take 8-10 minutes to finish. Data analysis was performed using SPSS for Windows 8.0. Mean, standard deviation, frequency, percentage, Cronbach's a, Pearson's correlation, and factor analysis were used to analyze the data. Exploratory factor analysis identified five factors. They were functional, social interaction, personal affective, psychological and physical function. The coefficients of Cronbach's a for these five factors ranged from 0.71 to 0.94. These five factors explained 68.90% of the variance in QOL among the patients with hyperhidrosis. The results showed that the instrument had satisfactory validity and reliability. Implications of these results for future studies were discussed.