Abstract
Objectives. The aim of our study is to examine the role of some factors (sociodemographic patterns, social relationship support, and trust in healthcare actors) on structure of quality of life among the Italian elderly population, by stratifying according to presence or absence of disability. Methods. Using data of the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) survey, we obtained a sample of 25,183 Italian people aged 65+ years. Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) was used to test such a relationship. Results. By applying the MCA between disabled and nondisabled elderly population, we identified three dimensions: “demographic structure and social contacts,” “social relationships,” “trust in the Italian National Health Services (INHS).” Furthermore, the difference in trust on the INHS and its actors was seen among disabled and non-disabled elderly population. Conclusions. Knowledge on the concept of quality of life and its application to the elderly population either with or without disability should make a difference in both people's life and policies and practices affecting life. New domains, such as information and trusting relationships both within and towards the care network's nodes, are likely to play an important role in this relationship.
Highlights
The 20th century has been characterized by a great advance in life expectancy; over the last century, chronic health problems have replaced infectious diseases as the dominant health care burden, and almost all chronic conditions are strongly related to aging
The aim of our study is to examine the role of some factors on structure of quality of life among the Italian elderly population, by stratifying according to presence or absence of disability
Disabled people declared to need homecare services for the 33.91% and home assistance assigned by Local Health Unit (LHU) for the 18.08%; among non-disabled people these percentages decrease to 5.32% and 2.03%, respectively
Summary
The 20th century has been characterized by a great advance in life expectancy; over the last century, chronic health problems have replaced infectious diseases as the dominant health care burden, and almost all chronic conditions are strongly related to aging. Despite the worldwide aging phenomenon, data regarding health and time trends referring to the health of the elderly population are still inadequate [1]. Participation in social relationships is likely to be associated with better health status indicators [3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]. Poor social relationships are likely to be associated with worse measures of quality of life [11, 12]
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