| ObjectArmy elderly population refers to the vertern, and belongs to a type of specific old people. The purpose of the study is to understand the quality of life among army elderly in Chengdu- Chongqing areas, and to explore the effect of quality of life caused by some social support factors. Our results will provide a basis for decision about improving the quality of life among military and the work of medical and health of army elderly.MethodsA total of 306 cases in 7 Cadre Relaxation Clubs of Chengdu-Chongqing region were selected by the method of cluster random sampling. Questionnaire was used to investigate the population's socio-demographic characteristics and quality of life related factors. The social support factors were measured with Social Support Rating Scale, the quality of life was evaluated with Chinese version of SF-36 scale. Statistical evaluation included T-test, variance, Kruskal-Wallis test, principal component analysis, factor analysis, correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis. SPSS-13.0 software was used for data processing, and epidate-3.0 software was used for data input.Results1. We distributed 306 copies of the survey questionnaires, 282 questionnaires were recovered. Removing the questionnaires with missing value, we received 247 valid questionnaires. There are 223 men (90.3%) and female 24 (9.7%) in the respondents. Most people in our survey is about 70-89 years old. 84 respondents graduated from high school (34.0%), 47 respondents graduated from high school or secondary school education (19.0% ), 61 respondents tertiary education level of 61 (24.7%), The remains were graduated from primary school or university or higher (20.6%).Most of elderly people were retired at a position of the division level from 1980 to 1999, and have a solid marriage. 2. In our study, the acceptance rate of SF-36 scale is 92.16%, and the completion rate of it is 87.59%.the split-half reliability of SF-36 is 0.911. Eight Cronbach'sαcoefficients scales include physical funtion(0.894), Role-physical(0.912), body pain(0.783), general health(0.809), vitality(0.699), social funtion(0.642), role emotional(0.947) and mental health(0.328).The cumulative variance contribution rate of two common factors is 64.87, which is same as the theoretical assumptions. Age and total scale is significant negative relationship(r=-0.0171, p=0.007). The score of health status and total score is significant positive relationship(r=0. 497, p=0. 000).3. The average age of elderly people in Chongqing is higher than the people in Chengdu, but the score of total SF-36, general health and body pain is higher than that in Chengdu. Among 247 army elderly, the good quality of life took up 49.8%; the middling quality of life took up 48.2%; the poor quality of life took up 1.6%; the very poor quality of life took up 0.4%. The total score and four scores including physical function, body pain, vitality and social function decreased with the increasing of age. The Role emotional score increased with the increasing of age. In the group of 75 above, the score of role emotional of elderly people in Chongqing and Chengdu is lower than that in Xian, but the other eight score is higher that in Xian. In the group of 65-74, there is the same trend.4. The results of multiple stepwise regression analysis showed that the factors of SF-36 total score were followed by life satisfaction, recreational activity, annoyance, total score of scale, chronic disease, years of retired, respect from children and drinking. The factors of general mental health were followed by life satisfaction, annoyance, recreational activity, respect from children and drinking. The factors of general physical health were followed by life satisfaction, recreational activity, chronic disease, and the total score of scale, exercising, annoyance and smoking. Influence factors of social support for SF-36 scale were usage of support and subjective support. Impacts on total mental health factors were usage of support and social support score. Impacts on total physical health factors were subjective support and usage of support.ConclusionThere are differences between the quality of life among the army elderly with different age group and the different area. Factors affecting their quality of life have both subjective feelings and objective indicators, and the subjective feeling is more important. The life satisfaction is the No.1 factor to influence the quality of life among army elderly in the Chengdu and Chongqing. Medical and health work of the military retired cadres should not only focus on the treatment of various diseases of older persons, health care and rehabilitation, should also focus on mental health and provide the necessary emotional assistance. Medical and health work of the military retired cadres should carry out positive health promotion activities to comprehensively enhance the quality of life of army elderly people.
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