Original Research Article
Year: 2019 | Month: April | Volume: 9 | Issue: 4 | Pages: 7-13
Perceived Stress and Quality of Life of Elderly Living Separately from Their Adult Children- A Cross-Sectional Comparative Study
Shiv Prakash, Saurav Kumar
Ph.D. Research Scholar, Department of Psychiatry, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi - 221005, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Corresponding Author: Shiv Prakash
ABSTRACT
Background: A rapid increase in population of elderly people has been noticed in all over the world. With this increase in population of elderly, several other types of physical and mental health related problems also increased among them. Besides these problems, changed in living arrangement of elderly people also may increase the level of stress among elderly and be result of poor quality of life (QOL).
Methods and materials: A cross sectional comparative study was conducted to assess and compare the level of perceived stress and quality of life among elderly people living separately from their children and elderly living with their children or family members. A total 100 individuals (50 elderly people living with their children or other family members and 50 elderly people living separately from their children) aged 60 years and above were interviewed using a semi structured questionnaire including socio-demographic variables, Cohen’s Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and WHOQOL BREF Questionnaire.
Result: Majority of the respondents was belonged to age group 60-64 years and ratio of male and female respondents was nearly equal in both study groups. Moderate level of perceived stress was found in both study groups. Significant difference was found in perceived stress and quality of life both study groups. And significant negative correlation was found between the perceived stress and quality of life of elderly people.
Conclusion: Living separately from their children and other family member in late life increase the perceived level of stress among elderly and resulting increase in poor quality of life. And perceived stress is negatively correlated with quality of elderly people.
Key words: Aging, Older adults, living arrangement, health, psychiatric morbidity