Apidechkul Tawatchai
School of Health Science, Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai, Thailand.
Southeast Asian J Trop Med Public Health. 2011 Sep;42(5):1282-92.
This community based cross-sectional study design assessed the quality of life, mental and physical health among people aged > or = 60 years living in rural and suburban areas of northern Thailand. A cluster random sampling technique was used. The instruments used to assess quality of life were the Thai General Health Questionnaire (Thai-28), the WHO Quality of Life Assessment in Thai (WHOQOL-BREF-THAI), and a history and physical examination. The validity and reliability of the 2 written instruments (Thai-28 and WHOQOL-BREF-THAI) were detected and the Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.84 for the WHOQOL-BREF-THAI, and 0.94 for the Thai GHQ-28. The face-to face interview were conducted by trained interviewers. A chi-square test was used to determine significant differences at alpha = 0.05. Two hundred forty-seven subjects were recruited into the study, of which 225 were used for analysis. Forty-eight point five percent and 51.5% of subjects were from rural and semi-urban areas, respectively. Forty-five point three percent were males; the main age group was 70-79 years old (46.5%). The subjects from suburban areas had a higher quality of life in aspect to physical health (p = 0.011), mental health (p = 0.025), and social relationships (p = 0.012). Social relationships among females from difference areas were significantly different (p = 0.01). Subjects from rural areas had better mental health than those from suburban (p = 0.0001). Living in a suburban area had both positive and negative associations with quality of life that need to be further clarified to develop an elderly health care model for the community.
这项基于社区的横断面研究设计评估了泰国北部农村和郊区60岁及以上人群的生活质量、心理健康和身体健康状况。采用了整群随机抽样技术。用于评估生活质量的工具包括泰国一般健康问卷（Thai-28）、世界卫生组织泰国生活质量评估量表（WHOQOL-BREF-THAI）以及病史和体格检查。检测了两种书面工具（Thai-28和WHOQOL-BREF-THAI）的有效性和可靠性，WHOQOL-BREF-THAI的克朗巴哈α系数为0.84，泰国GHQ-28的克朗巴哈α系数为0.94。由经过培训的访谈员进行面对面访谈。采用卡方检验确定在α=0.05水平上的显著差异。共有247名受试者被纳入研究，其中225名用于分析。分别有48.5%和51.5%的受试者来自农村和半城市地区。45.3%为男性；主要年龄组为70-79岁（46.5%）。郊区受试者在身体健康（p=0.011）、心理健康（p=0.025）和社会关系（p=0.012）方面的生活质量更高。不同地区女性的社会关系存在显著差异（p=0.01）。农村地区的受试者心理健康状况优于郊区受试者（p=0.0001）。居住在郊区与生活质量既有正相关也有负相关，需要进一步阐明以制定社区老年保健模式。
