Quality of life of elderly people and its association with work

Descriptive study with cross-sectional cohort and quantitative approach, with 113 elderly subjects, conducted from June to September 2014, in a peer group in the city of Cajazeiras-PB, using the WHOQOL-BREF and WHOQOL-OLD sociodemographic questionnaires. Data were analyzed through descriptive statistics and Mann-Whitney and Student’s t-tests.

RESULTS

The working elderly people had higher mean scores in most WHOQOL-BREF domains and WHOQOL-OLD facets, with emphasis to the Psychological domain (70.0) and the Sensory abilities facet (72.5). A statistically significant difference (p=0.046) was found between the two groups in the physical domain.

CONCLUSION

The study demonstrated that work is an important factor for the quality of life of elderly individuals.

Keywords:
Aged; Aging; Work; Quality of life

Variables	Work
	Yes		No
	n	%	n	%
Gender
Female	31	62.0	55	87.3
Male	19	38.0	8	12.7
Age range
60-64 years	16	32.0	17	27.0
65-69 years	14	28.0	18	28.6
70-74 years	6	12.0	17	27.0
75-79 years	9	18.0	8	12.7
80 years or older	5	10.0	3	4.8
Marital status
Single	8	16.0	9	14.3
Married	28	56.0	30	47.6
Divorced	1	2.0	3	4.8
Widowed	13	26.6	21	33.3
Education
Illiterate	4	8.0	3	4.8
Incomplete primary education	24	48.0	39	61.9
Complete primary education	3	6.0	6	9.5
Incomplete secondary education	4	8.0	6	9.5
Complete secondary education	4	8.0	5	7.9
Incomplete higher education	1	2.0	-	-
Complete higher education	10	20.0	4	6.3
Monthly family income
Up to 1 minimum wage	5	10.0	10	15.9
Between 1 and 3 minimum wages	24	48.0	41	65.1
Between 4 and 5 minimum wages	15	30.0	10	15.9
More than 6 minimum wages	6	12.0	2	3.2
Retired
Yes	36	72.0	57	90.5
No	14	28.0	6	9.5
Family arrangement
Living alone	7	14.0	7	11.1
Spouse only	9	18.0	15	23.8
Spouse and children	15	30.0	12	19.0
Spouse, son, son-in-law/daughter-in-law	1	2.0	4	6.3
Children only	7	14.0	4	6.3
Three-generation arrangement	6	12.0	10	15.9
Iintragenerational arrangement	3	6.0	4	6.3
Spouse and grandchildren	2	4.0	1	1.6
Grandchildren only	-	-	5	7.9
Other relatives	-	-	1	1.6
Religion
Catholic	40	80.0	58	92.1
Evangelical	6	12.0	3	4.8
No religion	4	8.0	2	3.2
Total	50	44.2	63	55.8

Domains/Facets	Mean (SD)	Median	Minimum	Maximum	Cronbach’s alpha
WHOQOL-BREF
Physical	65.7 (13.8)	67.9	35.7	100.0	0.778
Psychological	68.2 (12.2)	70.8	20.8	91.7	0.776
Social relationships	67.7 (14.4)	66.7	25.0	100.0	0.773
Environmental	60.0 (9.9)	59.3	31.3	84.4	0.773
WHOQOL-OLD
Sensory abilities	71.8 (18.0)	75.0	37.0	93.8	0.774
Autonomy	63.1 (13.0)	62.5	25.0	100.0	0.789
Past-Present-Future Activities	64.3 (14.1)	68.8	25.0	93.8	0.767
Social participation	62.9 (12.6)	62.5	31.3	93.8	0.769
Death and dying	72.1 (19.6)	81.3	25.0	100.0	0.790
Intimacy	68.2 (18.1)	75.0	6.3	100.0	0.771

Domains/Facets	Work
Domains/Facets	Yes Mean (SD)	No Mean (SD)	p
WHOQOL-BREF
Physical	68.6 (14.3)	63.4 (13.0)	0.046^* * T-Student;
Psychological	70.0 (11.8)	66.8 (12.5)	0.157^* * T-Student;
Social relationships	68.8 (17.6)	66.8 (11.3)	0.231^ Mann-Whitney U test.
Environmental	59.5 (9.9)	60.4 (10.1)	0.630^* * T-Student;
WHOQOL-OLD
Sensory abilities	72.5 (17.9)	71.3 (18.3)	0.691^ Mann-Whitney U test.
Autonomy	64.4 (12.4)	62.1 (13.6)	0.361^* * T-Student;
Past-Present-Future Activities	65.5 (14.3)	63.4 (14.0)	0.443^* * T-Student;
Social participation	62.8 (14.4)	62.7 (11.0)	0.918^* * T-Student;
Death and dying	72.2 (19.5)	72.0 (19.6)	0.952^* * T-Student;
Intimacy	67.1 (20.2)	69.0 (16.4)	0.588^* * T-Student;

Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. Escola de Enfermagem Rua São Manoel, 963 -Campus da Saúde , 90.620-110 - Porto Alegre - RS - Brasil, Fone: (55 51) 3308-5242 / Fax: (55 51) 3308-5436 - Porto Alegre - RS - Brazil
E-mail: revista@enf.ufrgs.br

Acompanhe os números deste periódico no seu leitor de RSS

[1] Corresponding author:
Iluska Pinto da Costa. lucosta.ufcg@gmail.com