One-Year Follow-Up Study of the Health-Related QOL and the Social Interactions for Elderly Women Participating in Community Care Programs: Changes of the Participants' Status and Associated Factors

摘要

Objectives: This follow-up study examined the status of the health-related Quality of Life (QOL) and social interactions for elderly women during one year of their participation in community care programs, and identified the associated factors of the changes. Methods: One-year follow-up survey was conducted for 109 elderly women over age 65 in Fukui Prefecture who participated in community care programs for the recreational activities and for maintaining Activity of Daily Living (ADL) from 2002 to 2003. A self-administered questionnaire included: 1) the subjects' characteristics; age, cohabitants, employment, ambulatory care, impairment of eye-sight, hearing, communication and memory, the frequency of going-out and distance traveled, and Instrumental ADL (IADL), 2) Short Form-36 (SF-36) for the health related QOL, and 3) Index of Social Interaction (ISI); independence, social curiosity, interaction, feeling of safety, and participation in the society. Results: There were no significant differences in the subjects' characteristics between the baseline survey and one year follow-up survey. Their "body pain and the disturbance of the routine activities due to the pain" of SF-36 significantly increased after one year. Subjects who had neither ambulatory care nor more "social curiosity" and "interactions" with other people felt less pain and less disturbances after one year. "Interactions" and "participation in the society" of ISI significantly increased compared to the baseline. And the factors most associated with these two ISI factors were less "difficulty of communication," and "independent status of IADL" including domestic chores, going out, and money administration. Conclusion: The elderly women who participated in community programs for one year could maintain most of their health-related QOL, and had significantly increased social interactions.