Quality of life related to functional dependence, family functioning and social support in older adults.
Mayra Alejandra Mireles Alonso, Martha Elba Salazar Barajas, Jesús Alejandro Guerra Ordóñez and 3 others
PMID 35635791WHAT IT FOUND
In older adults in Mexico, greater independence in daily activities, better family functioning and stronger perceived social support were associated with higher quality of life.
These cross-sectional links cannot prove that changing any one factor improves quality of life.
Key findings
01Greater basic and instrumental daily-living independence, better family functioning and higher perceived social support were positively and significantly correlated with all dimensions of quality of life.
02In the model, social support was significant for all dependent variables except perceived quality of life, while family functioning was significant only for perceived quality of life.
03Basic daily-living independence was significantly associated with physical quality of life, and instrumental daily-living independence was significantly associated with psychological quality of life and health satisfaction.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
Participants were recruited by convenience and snowball sampling from one community centre, not by random sampling, so the sample may not represent older adults elsewhere. The study measured all variables at one time, so it cannot show whether independence, family functioning or social support caused higher quality of life, or whether higher quality of life led to better function and support. Only older adults who could answer questions coherently and who lived with family for at least six months were included, so the findings say little about people with cognitive impairment, living alone or in other care settings. No intervention was tested, so these associations cannot be turned into evidence that a treatment or programme improves quality of life.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these associations as proof that improving daily-living independence, family functioning or social support will raise older adults' quality of life. The study was cross-sectional and used a convenience sample, so it cannot establish cause and effect.