Quality of life vs. old people’s functioning at the time of the covid-19 pandemic

Abstract

Introduction:The whole world is dealing with the consequences of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which affected mostly elderly people. The covid-19 pandemic has made it practically impossible for elderly people to function independently. Taking into consideration the elderly population and its prognosis, the evaluation of the elderly people's quality of life is more and more important. Both doctors and people involved in medicare claim that there is a need for investigating elderly people's life quality because the health problems which decide about this quality make effective treatment more difficult.Aim of the study: The aim of this paper is to evaluate the quality of life and functionality as far as doing daily chores by elderly people is concerned and the factors which decide about it at the time of the Covid-19 pandemic. Material and methods:The research was done with a group of 1008 people (705 women, 302 men) at the age of 60-97 (approximately 71.0 ± 8.1). The questionnaire which was used was created by the people who carried out the survey and the Polish scale WHOQOL-AGE was used to evaluate the quality of life.Independent functioning in a group was evaluated by means of the Lawton Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Scale (IADL). Results:The approximate result of evaluating the quality of life using the WHOQOL-AGE scale was 67.20 ± 15.61. Social and demographic factors which decide about the quality of life in a statistically significant way are: age (p < 0,000), education (p < 0,000), place of living (p < 0,029), marital status (p < 0,000), economic situation (p < 0,000), the status of living (p < 0,019), status of dexterity (p < 0,000) and professional status before retirement (p < 0,018). Conclusion:There is a need for many activities to improve the life quality of elderly people in every aspect of life. Those activities should take into consideration the life situation, functioning status, and elderly people's expectations. Actions taken with the aim of improving elderly people's life quality should involve interdisciplinary monitoring of health as well as promotion of physical activity, which will improve elderly people's ability to perform complex daily activities (IADL).

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

“…Correlations between sociodemographic factors such as gender, age, place of residence and type of professional activity depending on the type of medical care received as measured by Cramér's V coefficient values were strong in all the surveyed groups and were above V = 0.79. Considering the obtained value of Cramér's V coefficient for Conversely, the mean quality of life score for dependent individuals who scored < 18 points according to the IADL scale was 47.84 points [3]. In the study conducted by Fidecki and Wrońska, the study group consisted of 284 elderly people living in long-term care facilities.…”

“…In the opinion of Kowalczyk et al transition from home care to institutional care is potentially a more efficient and cost-effective approach; unfortunately, it can adversely affect the quality of life in the elderly, although it is not confirmed by the present findings. The concept of prioritizing the quality of life over its length is controversial in the world of medicine and raises ethical questions among many, but it is important to remember that the essence of treatment is not simply to sustain life [3]. Therefore, the opinion of Świtalski et al that quality of life should be an essential part of diagnosing geriatric patients residing in long-term care facilities is well founded [11].…”

“…Quality of life in various types of institutions is often perceived in contrasting ways as it is determined by the attitude of medical and nursing staff [1]. Paying attention to elderly people living in various types of institutions in order to meet their healthcare needs is crucial as the primary task of healthcare providers is to focus on maintaining or even improving their quality of life [2,3]. Assessment of quality of life should be an integral part of diagnosis in the patient treatment process as the results of the study of quality of life can be used in the prevention of many diseases [3,4].…”

“…Paying attention to elderly people living in various types of institutions in order to meet their healthcare needs is crucial as the primary task of healthcare providers is to focus on maintaining or even improving their quality of life [2,3]. Assessment of quality of life should be an integral part of diagnosis in the patient treatment process as the results of the study of quality of life can be used in the prevention of many diseases [3,4]. The demand for quality of life research in the elderly is reported by the medical and nursing community because the health problems that affect it make it difficult to effectively treat Journal of HealtH InequalItIes 2023 / Volume 9 / Issue 1, June multimorbidity [3,5].…”

“…Assessment of quality of life should be an integral part of diagnosis in the patient treatment process as the results of the study of quality of life can be used in the prevention of many diseases [3,4]. The demand for quality of life research in the elderly is reported by the medical and nursing community because the health problems that affect it make it difficult to effectively treat Journal of HealtH InequalItIes 2023 / Volume 9 / Issue 1, June multimorbidity [3,5]. Quality of life assessment is in accordance with a holistic approach to every patient [6], which is confirmed by the strategic document "Healthy Future" adopted by the Council of Ministers, the main objective of which is to improve the quality of life related to health in the elderly, contributing to the improvement of the well-being of the society [6].…”