Effects of Sociodemographic Characteristics, Illness Process, and Social Support on the Levels of Perceived Quality of Life in Veterans

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Quality of life is a broad, complex, multidimensional concept incorporating psychological, sociopsychological, economic, philosophical, social, cultural, and spiritual dimensions. As accompanying or even constituting the concept of quality life, social support (empathic, informational, instrumental, and reassurance support) has not been studied. This study sought to determine the effects of sociodemographic characteristics, illness process, and type of social support on the quality of life levels of veterans hospitalized in a rehabilitation center. Seventy-nine veterans were involved in the study. None of the sociodemographic characteristics of the veterans correlated with the quality of life of the veterans except housing conditions. The perceived quality of life scores of the veterans who needed psychological help were lower than those of their counterparts (p < 0.01). The quality of life scores of the veterans were not different from those of the average Turkish population, but veterans who had not received any type of social support had lower quality of life scores (3.74 vs. 4.70). Veterans who had empathic, informational, and reassurance social support had higher quality of life scores than did those who did not have these types of social support. Having tangible social support did not change the quality of life scores. Our findings indicate that social support has a greater impact on the perceived quality of life than sociodemographic and medical factors among the veterans.