A Comparative study of the quality of life of the elderly living at home and living in a nursing home in the city of Hamadan

Whth the change in the traditional role of the family, the culture of entrusting the elderly to nursing homes is increasing. The main purpose of this study is to compare the quality of life of the elderly living in a home and a nursing home. The method is comparative and the statistical population includes 160 elderly people (80 people living in a house and 80 people living in a nursing home) in Hamedan which have been selected by two methods of census (nursing home) and available sampling (living in a home). The questionnaires for data collection and for analysis, independent t-test and multivariate regression and path analysis were used. The results showed that there was a significant difference between the quality of life of the elderly living at home and the elderly living in nursing homes (t = 2.73 and sig = 0.001). Multivariate regression showed that the elderly living in a nursing home have a lower quality of life than the elderly living at home and the variables of social health, social support and life expectancy are strong predictors of changes in the quality of life of the elderly. Path analysis showed that social support in both groups has the greatest indirect impact on the quality of life of the elderly. Given that living in a nursing home as a new lifestyle is inevitable and Like an iron cage enclosing the elderly, Families and officials should work to increase the quality of life of the elderly.