Quality of life: Life’s essence

Pages: 518-524
Nisha Chaudhary (Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar College, University of Delhi, Delhi)
N. K. Chadha (Department of Psychology, University of Delhi, Delhi)
Salma Seth (Department of Applied Psychology, Vivekananda College, University of Delhi, Delhi)

Positive psychology has come up as a field which portrays a balanced view of human beings. The present research aimed at understanding the aspects of positive psychology (Quality of Life) in relation to geriatrics. The study tried to find the difference between elderly from different culture and living arrangements on Quality of Life. A pilot study was conducted to find the correlations between the English and the Hindi translated versions of the tool used, as the elderly sample was comfortable with the Hindi language. OPQOL (Older people Quality of Life Questionnaire) based on QOL ONS Omnibus Survey (2008) was used for study. The total sample under study were 179. The sample was classified on the basis of culture (rural & urban) and living arrangements (living with families, living with old age homes & those living only with spouses). The comparison of different aspects of Quality of Life on the basis of culture showed that rural elderly are much higher than urban elderly on their Physical health, Social relationship, Freedom, Psychological and Emotional well-being and also Finances. The overall comparison of different aspects of Quality of Life for whole sample, showed that for Health, Home and Freedom; the mean scores portrays a higher level for rural elderly living with families, then comes urban elderly living with families after that urban elderly living only with their spouses and at last urban elderly living in old age homes. For overall Life and Social Relationships the mean values are highest for urban elderly living with families then comes rural elderly living with families after that urban elderly living only with spouses and at last urban elderly living in old age homes. For Psychological well being and Finances, the mean values were highest for rural elderly living with families, then comes urban elderly living with families, after that urban elderly who are living in old age homes and at last urban elderly staying only with their spouse. The research observed that rural elderly showed a better Quality of Life.