| Author: | Wong, Koon-sing Catharine |
| Title: | A preliminary survey on perceived quality of life among elderly people receiving home help service in Wong Tai Sin District |
| Degree: | M.Sc. |
| Year: | 2005 |
| Subject: | Hong Kong Polytechnic University -- Dissertations Older people -- Home care -- China -- Hong Kong Quality of life -- China -- Hong Kong |
| Department: | School of Nursing |
| Pages: | v, 83, [15] leaves ; 30 cm |
| Language: | English |
| Abstract: | The Hong Kong population is aging rapidly. In the mid-2001, population census reported that people aged 65 and over made up 11.2% (753,188 persons) of the total population (6,724,900 persons), and it will be doubled to over 24% (2,092,800 persons) of the total population (8,720,000 persons) in the mid-2031. With improvement in socio-economic condition and medical technology, the average life expectancy is becoming longer, 72 years for males and 78 years for females in 1981 has risen to 78.2 and 84.1 respectively in 2001. By 2031, the expectations of life at birth will be 82.3 years for males and 87.8 years for females. And, with shift in fragmentation of traditional extended family to the nuclear family, there was a rapidly growing of elderly people living alone. Moreover, the Hong Kong government found that a total recurrent expenditure on health and social service was rising to $5.1 billion in 2004-2005. In order to release the huge health care expenditure and merge the government's elderly policy of promoting active and healthy aging, a cross-sectional quantitative preliminary survey was conducted in 2004 / 2005 addressing the perceived quality of life among elderly people receiving home help service in Wong Tai Sin District, which was the area with the highest ratio of older people. The purpose of the survey was to provide information useful for making recommendation on health care program to the elderly people, which aimed at promoting their health, enhancing their independence and enriching their successful aging in later life, thereby could render them less dependent on the huge health care and community resources. By adopting a self-developed questionnaire and the Chinese SF-36, eighty respondents were successfully interviewed by face-to-face method at the participants' home. Findings displayed that most of the respondents (33%) were between 80 to 84 years old. 49% of them were widowed. 32% of the elderly people lived with unrelated persons, and 30% lived alone. Many of them (57%) were illiterate. Besides, all of participants were receivers of the Comprehensive Society Security Allowance. Although 54% of the respondents practised folk beliefs, 70% of them did not rely on any proprietary medicine. The result of the survey also revealed that nearly 98% of participants presented at least one chronic disease; hypertension was reported as the most prevalent disease (43%). In addition, 84% of them would first seek help from general practitioners or doctors in government general out-patient clinics when they were sick. However, 38% of the respondents were not known of the other health services that were available to them, such as geriatric day care centre, and community nursing service. Hence, propaganda was soared. Furthermore, the result of the study concluded that 80% of the elderly respondents perceived high or very high level of quality of life as shown by Pearson's correlation analysis. The analysis displayed that better sleep, good mood, presence of neighbour's support, no regular medication or medical follow-up. These unexpected findings might indicate that living alone could have more favourable perceived quality of life. As expected, the survey provides a valuable reference for health policy-makers and health providers in designing health service programs effectiveness and efficiency. |
| Rights: | All rights reserved |
| Access: | restricted access |
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| File | Description | Size | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| b18182495.pdf | For All Users (off-campus access for PolyU Staff & Students only) | 2.92 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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