The effect of "Elder Care by Elderly People Program" on life satisfaction and quality of life among institutionalized senior citizens

Introduction: Improving participation in life meaningful roles is one of the most important predictors of quality of life (QOL) and life satisfaction (LS) in later life. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of Elder Care by Elderly People (ECP) on LS and QOL among institutionalized senior citizens.

Material and method: This was an interventional study involving a targeted sample of 36 older adults in Ghods nursing home in Tehran in 2018. WHOQOL-OLD 24-item and LS 40-item questionnaires were used to measure LS and Olathe repeated-measures ANOVA and descriptive was employed to obtain the objectives.

Results: The participants were 36 older adults in Ghods nursing home. The mean age of older adults was 67.27 (standard deviation [SD] = 7.6), of whom about 77.8% were male. The mean score of QOL increased from 74.38 (SD = 13.09) pre intervention to 83.72 (SD = 11.43) 2 months post intervention, with most significant change of 9.3 QOL points between pre intervention and 2 months post intervention alone (P < 0.01). Similarly, LS increased from 114.19 (SD = 26.93) pre intervention to 133.94 (SD = 20.49) 2 months post intervention, with most significant change of 19.7 LS points between pre intervention and 2 months post intervention alone (P < 0.001).

Conclusions: The results of this study showing the evidence of the positive impact of the ECP Programmed for the elderly, therefore, it is suggested that the programmer is evaluated in future studies.