Measuring and Evaluating the Mental Quality of Life in Coastal Cities (Case Study: Bandar-e Imām Khomeyni)

The quality of life becomes a very important concept considering its role in mental health in recent years. The quality of life studies can help to identify the problematic areas, the causes of people's dissatisfaction, the priorities of citizens in life, the influence of social demographic factors on the quality of life, and the monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of the policies and the strategies in the field of quality of life. Therefore, the main purpose is to determine the indicators and to evaluate the quality of life in Bandar-e Imām Khomeyni city. It was a descriptive-analytic research. Data were collected using survey studies and the completion of the demographic information checklist and the quality of life questionnaire-expanded by the residents of the five selected neighborhoods (Farhangiān, 250 units, 100 units, Phase I and Shahrak-e Meqdād). The sample size was estimated using the Cochran formula and considering the maximum heterogeneity (p = 0.55) equal to 436. They were selected randomly from the residents of the five selected neighborhoods. The data were weighted by the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) then; it was analyzed using the fuzzy similarity to ideal solution. Also the cluster analysis was used to identify the homogeneous groups to determine the level of satisfaction in the neighborhoods. The results showed that the Farhangiān neighborhood has a better status than other neighborhoods in most measures of the quality of life. But in general, there are no significant difference among the neighborhoods in terms of the mixed indicators of the quality of life.