Study On The Status And Influential Factors Of Quality Of Life Of EmPty Nest Elderly In Urumqi Area

Objective:To investigate the status of quality of life of the empty nest elderly in Urumqi area, compare the difference between the empty nest elderly and the non-empty nest empty elderly, and analysis the influential factors of quality of life of the empty nest elderly.Basing on the result above, to put forward a scientific basis to improve the quality of life of empty nest elderly, adopte targeted community interventions measures and institute relevant health policy.Methods:The questionnaire investigation was carried out during the period of February to June 2010, within urban districts of Urumqi area. According to the uniform inclusion and exclusion criteria,876 elderly (aged 60 years or older) were recruited, who were selected by using stratified random sampling method. The subjects were interviewed face to face in their own houses by the unified way with questionnaires. The questionnaire mainly comprised of general demographic social characteristics, social support, Coping Style, Geriatric Depression, quality of life and so on. The database was established and analyzed by SPSS13.0. Descriptive analyses, Chi-square test, two-sample t-test, ANOVA analysis, Pearson correlation analysis and multinomial linear regression analyse were performed in the research. Results:①In the study,876 questionnaires were distributed and 830 completed records were obtained, Of which 462 were empty nest elderly,368 were non-empty nest elderly, the effective rate was 94.74%.②General demographic social characteristics shows that there is no statisitical signficant difference between empty nest elderly and non-empty nest elderly except in relationship with the children, Self-perceied subjective economic, sleep, loneliness(P<0.05).③The scores of Empty nest elderly in subjective support, objective support, the availability of support, total scores and positive coping style were lower than the non-empty nest elderly,and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05).④Chi-square test indicate that there is statisitical signficant difference between empty nest elderly and non-empty nest elderly in depression (P<0.01).⑤The scores of Empty nest elderly were significantly lower than the non-empty nest elderly in VT, SF, RE, MH and quality of life scores, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). Relatively empty nest elderly has no statistically difference in all dimensions except in RP(P<0.05). Different types of empty nest elderly has statistically difference in the scores of PF, RP, BP,GH, RE, MH and QOL (P<0.05).⑥The multiple linearregression analysis showed that the influencing factors of quality of life of the empty nest elderly were age, education level, self-perceived subjective economic, loneliness, physical exercise, sleep, positive coping style, depression, relationship with children and social total support scores.Conclusions:①The quality of life of the empty nest elderly in Urumqi area was lower than the non-empty nest elderly. There was no significant difference in quality of life betweem relatively empty nest elderly and absolutely empty nest elderly. The quality of life of elderly living alone was significantly lower than the elderly living with their partner.②There is statisitical signficant difference between empty nest elderly and non-empty nest elderly in depression in Urumqi area, the social support of the empty nest elderly was less than the non-empty nest elderly.③The influencing factors of quality of life of the empty nest elderly were age, education level, self-perceived subjective economic, loneliness, physical exercise, sleep, positive coping style, depression, relationship with children and social total support scores.