National Institute of Nursing Education, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India.
Department of Internal Medicine, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India.
Psychogeriatrics. 2019 Sep;19(5):419-425. doi: 10.1111/psyg.12406. Epub 2019 Feb 5.
The increase in proportion of elderly implies that their problems demand more attention of the administrators. The current study was carried out to assess the functional status of the elderly and to explore the extent and pattern of routine daily life problems faced by them.
An integrated qualitative and quantitative research design was employed. A stratified multistage random sampling technique was used to select the respondents from various areas of Chandigarh. The houses were selected randomly from where elderly persons (> 60 years) were identified. Katz Index of Independence in activities of daily living (ADL) was used to evaluate functional ability of the respondents. Instrumental ADLs (IADLs) were assessed using Lawton and Brody scale. Focus group discussions and in-depth interviews were conducted among the elderly to explore their problems using an interview guide.
One thousand and eighty elderly were enrolled in the study. Their mean age was 67.22 ± 7.54 years. (range 60-102 years). The majority (70%) were independent in carrying out their daily life activities. Financially, around one-third were completely dependent and around half were partially dependent. Major dependence was in food preparation, housekeeping and laundry. From the qualitative data, four main themes were formulated, that is general personal problems of elderly; family problems; problems faced by elderly in hospitals and at public places. A feeling of purposelessness, financial insecurity, physical dependency, problems in hospitals and so on, emerged as the main problems.
Majority of the elderly considered their lives as problematic because they were dependent physically as well as financially. The main domains of dependency were problems related to bowel continence, food preparation, housekeeping and laundry.
老年人口比例的增加意味着他们的问题需要管理者更多的关注。本研究旨在评估老年人的功能状态，并探讨他们所面临的日常生活问题的程度和模式。
采用定性和定量相结合的研究设计。采用分层多阶段随机抽样技术从昌迪加尔的各个地区选择受访者。从随机选择的房屋中确定 60 岁以上的老年人。采用 Katz 日常生活活动（ADL）独立性指数评估受访者的功能能力。使用 Lawton 和 Brody 量表评估工具性日常生活活动（IADL）。采用访谈指南对老年人进行焦点小组讨论和深入访谈，以探讨他们的问题。
研究共纳入 1080 名老年人。他们的平均年龄为 67.22±7.54 岁（范围 60-102 岁）。大多数（70%）在进行日常生活活动方面是独立的。在经济上，约三分之一的人完全依赖他人，约一半的人部分依赖他人。主要依赖于食物准备、家务和洗衣。从定性数据中，归纳出四个主要主题，即老年人的一般个人问题、家庭问题、在医院和公共场所面临的问题。无目的感、经济不安全、身体依赖、医院问题等，成为老年人面临的主要问题。
大多数老年人认为自己的生活存在问题，因为他们在身体和经济上都依赖他人。依赖的主要领域是与肠道控制、食物准备、家务和洗衣有关的问题。
