title: A cross-sectional study on quality of life among the elderly in non-governmental organizations' elderly homes in Kuala Lumpur.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There is a rapid increase in the population of the elderly globally, and Malaysia is anticipated to become an ageing nation in 2030. Maintaining health, social participation, reducing institutionalization, and improving quality of life of the elderly are public health challenges of the 21(st) century. Quality of life among elderly in Elderly Homes in Malaysia is under researched. This study aims to determine the quality of life and its associated factors among the Elderly in Elderly Homes in Kuala Lumpur.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a cross-sectional study among 203 residents aged 60 years or more in eight randomly selected Elderly Homes in Kuala Lumpur in September 2014. Stratified simple random sampling was used to select participants. Study instruments included World Health Organization Quality of Life Questionnaire-Brief Version (WHOQOL-BREF), Multidimensional Scale for Perceived Social Support, and a questionnaire for Socio-demographic variables. Data collection was by face to face interview. Univariate and Multivariate analysis were used to determine associations, and P-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean (Standard deviation) for the physical domain was 14.3 (±2.7), 13.7 (±2.5) for the psychological domain, 10.8 (±3.4) for the social domain, and 13.0 (±2.5) for the environment domain. Factors significantly associated with quality of life included age, gender, level of education, economic status, outdoor leisure activity, physical activity, duration of residence, type of accommodation, co-morbidities, and social support.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study confirms that multiple factors are associated with quality of life among elderly in elderly homes. Social support, chronic co-morbidities, gender and outdoor leisure activity were significantly associated with all the domains of quality of life. Among the four domains of quality of life, the physical domain had the highest score while the social domain had the lowest score. This emphasizes the need for more social support-related interventions in these homes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, International Medical University (IMU), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. obieonunkwor@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Obinna Francis
authors.initials: OF
authors.lastname: Onunkwor
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, SEGi University, Kota Damansara, Selangor, Malaysia. samidobaie@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Sami Abdo Radman
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Al-Dubai
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, International Medical University (IMU), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. philip_george@imu.edu.my.
authors.forename: Philip Parikial
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: George
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, International Medical University (IMU), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. john_arokiasamy@imu.edu.my.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Arokiasamy
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, International Medical University (IMU), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. yadav@imu.edu.my.
authors.forename: Hemetram
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yadav
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, International Medical University (IMU), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. ankur_barua@imu.edu.my.
authors.forename: Ankur
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Barua
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, International Medical University (IMU), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. nubcy345@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Hassana Ojonuba
authors.initials: HO
authors.lastname: Shuaibu
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000369:Aged, 80 and over / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006707:Homes for the Aged; D006801:Humans; D008296:Malaysia; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged / Q000523:psychology*; D009735:Nursing Homes; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012944:Social Support; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires