Abstract
The aim of the study was to assess any differences in perception of quality of life in oldest-old subjects living in nursing homes and at home. The elderly people staying in the Nursing Home for the Elderly of Padova or at home were interviewed, after a recruitment at recreational centers for the aged from the same town. Twenty-nine oldest-old people resident in nursing homes (mean age 95.0 ± 6.42 years) and 37 oldest-old people resident at home [mean age 95.8 ±7.4) were included in the study. The data were collected through administration of two questionnaires designed to assess quality of life in the elderly (PEQOL and LEIPAD). The two groups of subjects produced overlapping scores in all comparable scales in the two questionnaires on the quality of life, except for the LEIPAD self care scale, corresponding to PEQOL's ADL and IADL scales, for which there are statistically significant differences between institutionalized subjects and those living at home. On the LEIPAD self care scale, institutionalized subjects report greater impairment of self-sufficiency (p < 0.03), as confirmed by the scores obtained on the corresponding ADL and IADL scales of the PEQOL (p < 0.05 and p < 0.001). Although institutionalized oldest-olds are less self-sufficient than those who live at home, no other differences emerge between the two groups in the other areas concerning perception of quality of life explored by both questionnaires (physical health, cognitive functions, depression and anxiety, sexual functioning, social functioning and religiousness). Unlike the findings reported in a previous study on less old people (mean age 77 years), over 85-year-olds living in rest homes and at own home appeared to perceive quality of life in a similar way. This may be attributable to greater adjustment over time, with place of residence assuming less importance, provided that the oldest-olds feel equally supported by reference figures, who need not necessarily be members of the family.
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