Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The importance of facets of quality of life to older adults: an international investigation

  • Published:
Quality of Life Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

To describe the relative importance of 38 facets of quality of life (QOL) to older adults in 22 countries, by gender, age group, and health status.

Methods

A secondary analysis of data was conducted from the WHOQOL-Old pilot study. Questionnaires were distributed by mail or in person. Independent t-tests for differences between means were calculated between importance scores by genders, age groups, and healthy/unhealthy participants. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was used to identify which QOL facets explained importance of overall QOL.

Results

Of 7,401 older adults from 22 countries (mean 73.1 years), 57.8% were women and 70.1% were ‘healthy’. While there are significant differences in the importance of various facets of QOL on the basis of gender, age, and health status, when these variables were controlled in a stepwise multiple regression analysis, the most important QOL facets were having energy, being happy, having well-functioning senses, and being free from pain.

Conclusion

It appears that many of the physical aspects of QOL such as energy, freedom from pain, ability to do activities of daily living and to move around are particularly important to older adults. Practitioners should give greater attention to energy, sensory abilities, and pain.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

ADL:

Activities of daily living

HDI:

Human Development Index

QOL:

Quality of life

SEIQoL:

Schedule for the Evaluation of Individual Quality of Life

SEIQoL-DW:

Schedule for the Evaluation of Individual Quality of Life (Direct Weighting)

WHOQOL:

World Health Organization, Quality of Life Assessment

WHOQOL-OLD:

World Health Organization, Quality of Life Assessment of Older Adults

References

  1. Fallowfield, L. (1990). Quality of life. The missing measurement in health care. London: Souvenir Press, Human Horizon Series.

    Google Scholar 

  2. WHOQOL Group. (1995). The World Health Organisation Quality of Life assessment (WHOQOL): Position paper from the World Health Organization. Social Science and Medicine, 41, 1403–1409.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. WHOQOL-SRPB Group. (2006). A cross-cultural study of spirituality, religion and personal beliefs as components of quality of life. Social Science and Medicine, 62, 1486–1497.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Waldron, D., O’Boyle, C. A., Kearney, M., Moriarty, M., & Carney, D. (1999). Quality-of-life measurement in advanced cancer: Assessing the individual. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 17, 3603–3611.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Bowling, A. (1995). What things are important in people’s lives? A survey of the public’s judgements to inform scales of health related quality of life. Social Science and Medicine, 41, 1447–1462.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Saxena, S., Carlson, D., Billington, R., & Orley, J. (2001). The WHO quality of life assessment instrument: The importance of its items for cross-cultural research. Quality of Life Research, 10, 711–721.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Robinson, J. (2004). Older adults and sexuality: The relationship to quality of life. Masters Thesis, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

  8. Gott, M., & Hinchliff, S. (2003). How important is sex in later life? The views of older people. Social Science and Medicine, 56, 1617–1628.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Power, M., Quinn, K., Schmidt, S., & WHOQOL-OLD Group. (2005). Development of the WHOQOL-OLD module. Quality of Life Research, 14(10), 2197–2214.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. WHOQOL Group. (1998). The World Health Organization Quality of Life assessment. Social Science and Medicine, 46, 1569–1585.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Liao, S., & Ferrell, B. A. (2000). Fatigue in an older population. Journal of American Geriatrics, 48, 426–430.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Avlund, K., Dansgaard, M. T., Sakari-Rantala, R., Laukanen, P., & Schroll, M. (2002). Tiredness in daily activities among nondisabled adults as a determinant of onset if disability. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 55, 965–973.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Rawson, E. S. (2010). Enhanced fatigue resistance in older adults during a repeated set of intermittent contractions. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 24(1), 251–256.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Alibhai, S. M., Leach, M., Kowgier, M. E., Tomlinson, G. A., Brandwein, J. M., & Minden, M. D. (2007). Fatigue in older adults with acute myeloid leukemia: Predictors and associations with quality of life and functional status. Leukemia, 21(4), 845–848.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Hardy, S., & Studenski, A. (2008). Fatigue and function over 3 years among older adults. The Journals of Gerontology Series: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, 63, 1389–1392.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Walston, J., Hadley, E. C., Ferrucci, L., Guralnik, J. M., Studentski, S. A., Ershler, W. B., et al. (2006). Research agenda for frailty in older adults, toward a better understanding of physiology and etiology: Summary from the American Geriatrics Soc/National Institute on Aging Research Conference on Frailty in older adults. Journal of American Geriatrics Society, 54, 99–101.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Yu, D. S. F., Lee, D. T. F., & Ng, W. M. (2009). Fatigue among older people: A review of the literature. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2009.05.009 (in press).

  18. World Health Organization. (2002). Active ageing: A policy framework. Retrieved August 20, 2009 from http://whqlibdoc.who.int/hq/2002/WHO_NMH_NPH_02.8.pdf.

  19. American Geriatric Panel on Persistent Pain in Older Persons. (2002). The management of persistent pain in older persons. Journal of American Geriatric Society, 50, S205–S224.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. WHOQOL Group. (1999). The WHQOL-100: Tests of the universality of quality of life in 15 different groups worldwide. Health Psychology, 18, 495–505.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the contributions of the WHOQOL-OLD Group, who collected the data used in this study. 1 The WHOQOL-OLD group is composed of: Prof. M. Power, K. Quinn (University of Edinburgh, UK); Dr. R. Lucas (Institut Català de l’Envelliement, Barcelona, Spain); Prof. S. Skevington (University of Bath, UK); Prof. M. Amir*, Dr. Y. B. Ya’acov, T. Narkiss-Guez (Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel); Prof. L. Kullman (National Institute for Medical Rehabilitation, Budapest, Hungary); G. Bech-Anderson (Fredriksborg General Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark); Prof. Ji-Qian Fang (Sun Yat-Sen University of Medical Science, Guangzhou, China); Prof. G. Hawthorne (University of Melbourne, Australia); Prof. M.C. Angermeyer, Dr. H. Matschinger, I. Winkler (University of Leipzig, Germany); Dr. M. Kalfoss (Diakonova University College, Oslo, Norway); Dr. E. Dragomirecka (Prague Psychiatric Centre, Czech Republic); Dr. M. Tazaki (University of Tokyo, Japan); Prof. M. Eisemann (Tromsø University, Norway), B. Nygren (Umea University, Sweden); Prof. A. Molzahn (University of Alberta, Canada); Dr. J. Ceremnych (Scientific Department of Gerontology, Vilnius, Lithuania); Dr. R. Krech (WHO Europe, Copenhagen, Denmark); Dr. M. Fleck (University of the State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil); Prof. E. Eser (Celal Bayar University, Turkey); Prof. N. v. Steinbüchel (University of Genf, Switzerland); Dr. A. LePlege (INSERM, Paris, France); Dr. D. Bushnell (University of Washington, Seattle, USA); Dr. A. Chan (Queen Elisabeth Hospital Kowloon, Hong Kong); Dr. L. Schwartzmann (Department of Medical Psychology, Montevideo, Uruguay), Dr. R. Kilian (University of Ulm, Germany).

*We note with great sadness the death of Dr. Marianne Amir in January 2004.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada

    Anita Molzahn

  2. University of Bath, Bath, UK

    Suzanne M. Skevington

  3. Diakonova University College, Oslo, Norway

    Mary Kalfoss

  4. University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada

    Kara Schick Makaroff

Authors
  1. Anita Molzahn
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Suzanne M. Skevington
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Mary Kalfoss
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Kara Schick Makaroff
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anita Molzahn.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Molzahn, A., Skevington, S.M., Kalfoss, M. et al. The importance of facets of quality of life to older adults: an international investigation. Qual Life Res 19, 293–298 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-009-9579-7

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-009-9579-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation