Comparison of the Quality of Life of Elderly Women and Men Living in Nursing Homes

The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality of life of the elderly and compare it between men and women. In this cross-sectional study, four elderly homes in the city of Ardabil were randomly selected (two male elderly homes and two female elderly homes) and then 60 elderly (36 female and 24 male) They were asked to answer the SF-36 questionnaire and then the data were analyzed using SPSS 21 software and descriptive and inferential statistics. The results showed that the mean scores of elderly residents of Ardabil in the nursing home in each of the eight sub-scales of the quality of life questionnaire were lower than those of non-elderly people in similar research. Also, the mean scores of these people's quality of life were lower than other elderly people in other studies, and they only had higher scores in terms of energy-fatigue. Another finding of this study was that elderly men had significantly higher scores in energy-fatigue subscales (t = 2.73, p = 0.008), emotional well-being (t = 2/05, p = 0.04) and physical pain (t = 0.22, p = 0.05). According to the results, it seems that the elderly residents of the elderly homes of Ardebil are not well-positioned in terms of quality of life. Although it is inevitable to reduce the quality of life in old age, failure to address the conditions of the elderly and their quality of life can impose material and immaterial costs on the society and these people themselves.