Quality of life and self-esteem among the elderly in the community

Abstract

This study sought to investigate the association between the scores for quality of life (QoL) and self-esteem among the elderly in an urban community. A cross-sectional, quantitative and analytical household survey was conducted with 1,691 elderly persons resident in an urban area in a county in Minas Gerais state. The World Health Organization Quality of Life BREF (WHOQOL-BREF), the World Health Organization Quality of Life OLD (WHOQOL-OLD) questionnaires and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale were used in this study. A descriptive statistical analysis and a linear regression model (p < 0.05) were conducted. The results revealed that the social relationships domain (71.19) and the topic of death and dying (74.30) had the highest mean scores among the elderly; while the lowest mean scores were the environment domain (60.39) and the topic of social participation (63.06). The self-esteem scores showed an average of 9.36 ± 4.09. Associations were evident for the lower scores of quality of life in all the WHOQOL- BREF domains and WHOQOL-OLD aspects (except death and dying) with lower levels of self-esteem (p <0.001). The results provide data that contribute to a better understanding of the aspects that influence the QoL of the elderly due to reduced self-esteem, thus providing information for the development of health strategies.