Quality of life assessment in Iranian working and non-working women with a native instrument

Quality of life (QOL) is a complex, multidimensional concept that has different meanings from the perspective of people in different societies, situations, and times, and relates to a person's satisfaction with his life. The present study was conducted to measure the quality of life of Iranian working and non-working women using an authentic native tool.

Methods & Materials:

 This cross-sectional study was conducted on 240 working and non-working women who were selected through cluster random sampling from the varied zone of Tehran Province (from November 2016 to January 2017). Data were collected through the Iranian women’s Quality of life Instrument (IWQOLI) designed by Seyed Nematollah Roshan with S-CVI/Ave 0.93, and Cronbach’s alpha of 0.919. Data were analyzed by SPSS 22.

Among aspects of the women’s QOL, the highest mean was related to a sense of peace in life 71.816 (SD=27.40), and the lowest was received comprehensive support 42.708 (SD=13.02). Based on the findings women who work outside the home have required more support, on the other hand, non-working women need to perceive much sense of security, which can help them feel more satisfied with life.

The quality of life of all the studied women, regardless of their employment status, is not very favorable in Iran. Therefore, to improve it, it seems necessary to design appropriate interventions by health workers and health politicians.