Quality of life of older adults and associated factors in Ghanaian urban slums: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

ObjectiveThis study provides insight into the quality of life (QoL) of older adults living in urban slums in Ghana.DesignThe study employed a community-based, cross-sectional design to assess QoL among older adults in two slums between April and May 2020. QoL was assessed using the WHO Quality of Life-Brief version (WHOQOL-BREF) questionnaire.SettingsParticipants were drawn from two slums in Ghana, one in a fishing-dominated community and the other in an industrial community.ParticipantsThis study included 400 participants aged 60 and above who had lived in either slum for at least 1 month and were able to communicate verbally.ResultsAlthough the means of all participants’ transformed scores were poor in the physical and psychological domains, they were moderate in all other domains. When viewed as a whole, the perceived overall QoL is neither poor nor good and participants were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with their health. Participants had a moderate level of QoL in the WHOQOL-BREF psychological (mean score 45.7), social (mean score 57.0) and environmental (mean score 51.6) domains. The mean score for physical QoL of older adults was 43.3, which denotes poor QoL. In all domains, male participants have a significantly higher mean QoL than their female counterparts. An analysis of variance comparing the living arrangements of participants showed that those who lived with extended family had high mean scores in environmental QoL, overall QoL and satisfaction with health. Regression analysis revealed that QoL was influenced mostly by the environmental (46.2%), followed by the psychological (43.7%), physical (31%) and social (20.4%) domains.ConclusionsThe findings from this study show that older adults living in slums had moderate psychological, social and environmental QoL and poor physical QoL. Although the mean scores for QoL are higher than anticipated, health policy development must take into account the specific needs of older adults.

Health-related quality of life of persons living with tuberculosis: A cross-sectional study

“…The WHOQoL-BREF instrument has been used globally as a valid and reliable tool for the assessment of the HRQoL of persons living with TB [8] , [10] , [29] . The WHOQoL-BREF QoL tool has also been used for its validity among the Ghanaian adult population [2] , [4] , [6] . The WHOQoL-BREF QoL instrument was found to have acceptable reliability since an overall Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.95 was recorded in this study [20] .…”

Improving health and social care services for slum-dwelling older adults: Perspectives of health professionals

“…Slums are characterized by uneven walkways, poor ventilation, improper housing structures, lack of water supply and poor sanitary conditions. As postulated by previous studies, slum environments as mentioned above may negatively impact the health and QoL of older adults (13)(14)(15)(16). Therefore, older slum-dwellers in Ghana represent a particularly vulnerable population, who need adequate formal healthcare services.…”

Association of childhood trauma, and resilience, with quality of life in patients seeking treatment at a psychiatry outpatient: A cross-sectional study from Nepal

“…The total scores are computed by summing up the scores on each domain as specified in the manual [ 36 ]. The Nepali translation by Giri et al [ 37 ] was used in this study, where we categorized the total QOL score into two categories as good (total QOL score more than 45) and poor (total QOL score less or equal to 45) [ 38 ].…”