Abstract
Housing adaptations (HA) clients are a heterogeneous group of people with disabilities experiencing restricted performance and participation in everyday life. While health-related quality of life is a common and relevant outcome in health care research, associated factors among HA clients are largely unknown. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate which factors are associated with health-related quality of life among HA clients in Sweden. The study has a cross-sectional design, using baseline data collected among 224 participants in three municipalities in Sweden. The main outcome was health-related quality of life measured by the EQ-5D. Factors investigated as potentially associated were age, sex, living conditions, cognitive impairment, usability of the home, activities of daily living (ADL) dependence, participation, and fear of falling. The associations were explored using multiple linear regression analysis. Younger age and higher dependence in ADL were associated with lower scores on the EQ-5D. The social aspect of usability in the home had a positive association with the EQ VAS. Results suggest that certain groups of HA clients might be at risk for low health-related quality of life. Knowledge of their characteristics can potentially improve development and implementation of tailored interventions aiming at increasing their health-related quality of life.
Highlights
Health-related quality of life is widely accepted as important outcomes for evaluating the effect of interventions, both on individual and societal level [1,2]
The findings conclude that three variables were significantly associated with health-related quality of life measured with the VAS in this sample: age, activities of daily living (ADL) dependence, and the social aspect of usability in the home
A variety of factors seem to be associated with how people applying for Housing adaptations (HA) in Sweden perceive their health-related quality of life
Summary
Health-related quality of life is widely accepted as important outcomes for evaluating the effect of interventions, both on individual and societal level [1,2]. Studies have shown that a variety of factors affect how people rate their own health. Personal factors such as higher age, being a woman, low income, low education level, living alone, and body functions and structure such as cognitive impairment and having a chronic disease are all related with worse scores on self-rated health assessments [5,6,7]. Disability, and high risk of falling are known factors associated with lower self-rated health [8,9]. Falls are common among older people, and most falls occur in people’s own homes [10,11,12], as consequence of environmental factor hazards such as tripping over thresholds or loose rugs [11,12]
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