A SURVEY OF THE LIVING CONDITIONS AND LIFE QUALITY OF ELDERLY PEOPLE

Introduction: In the present study we intend to deal with a less examined field, that is, the life quality of elderly people. Especially, we plan to examine the health-connected issues of life quality in the mirror of how elderly people evaluate their own living conditions and activities. Aim: Our main purpose is to highlight the fact that each element of lifestyle has a crucial role in the improvement of the life quality of this age group. When examining health-cultural behaviour, it seems to be justified to take several factors into consideration (physical activity, change of lifestyle, patterns of older age groups) that can affect or influence the lifestyle of elderly people. One of the most important issues at this age is the mental health condition. Material and Methods: We collected data from elderly people over 60 (M=73,89; Min:61 Max:95 SD+7,729) with the questionnaire method (N=1125) in three counties in the eastern part of Hungary. Our research contained questions in three groups: demographic block (age, sex, education, financial situation, living conditions, activities), state of health (subjective state of health, health-consciousness, mental health condition) and health conduct (physical activity, smoking, alcohol consumption). Results: More than half of our sample group (50,1 %) live in old people's home and a little less than half of them (49,9 %) attend institutions providing day care only; the proportion of men and women is: 1/3 - 2/3 (30,5 % are men and 69,5 % are women). In the course of the research we examined the differences between counties, institution types and sexes as well. Conclusions: As regards their state of health, only every tenth aged person considers himself or herself healthy (subjective state of health). The living conditions of one-third of the questioned people have significantly deteriorated after retirement, which has affected their general feelings. Not suffering from any illnesses and enjoying everyday life are the most characteristic factors of health for elderly people taking part in the research. Doing regular physical exercises is the least important component of the healthy way of life for them irrespective of their sex.