According to the report of in-depth analysis as the third investigation of national health which was done by the Korean Social Health Institute(2007), the life expectancy of health in Korea which means the life span without any diseases or any disorde...
According to the report of in-depth analysis as the third investigation of national health which was done by the Korean Social Health Institute(2007), the life expectancy of health in Korea which means the life span without any diseases or any disorders was estimated to be 68.6 year in age on the basis of 2005. In consideration of the average life span, which was reported as 73.9 in male and 80.8 in female, the old people must lead their lives in the unhealthy state for more than 10years(Korean National Statistical Office, 2005). One of the researches on the Korean old people shows that of the aged more than 65 in age, only 13.3% of the population had no disease while the rest of the group, 86.7%, suffered from one or more diseases. Among the people with disease, besides the chronic disease without functional disorder happening in the half, ADL or IADL complicated by chronic disease was dominant in the other half(Jeong, Kyung Hee et al, 1998).
In an aging society, the problems of public health service and social welfare tend to emerge from the social problem which developed from the personal or family concern for the people of advanced age. So the quality of life is more meaningful in the aged, nearing their end, than in any other group of age. This study was performed to investigate the influence of many factors, such as daily life activity, social anthropological factor, social support, subjective degree of aging and clinical symptom on the life of quality in the old people with chronic disease. On top of that, the effort was made to suggest the substantial way in terms of encouraging us to reconsider the interest of the government, society for the aged and improving the quality of life through the diversity of activity along with the health in the personal level.
The subject of our investigation was the population of the aged more than 65 who were suffering from chronic disease. The data were collected via 10 halls for the aged located in 2 districts of Seoul City for 20 days from April 20, 2008 to May 10, 2008. Of 370 questionnaire handed out, 319 replies to this question were used for the final analysis, excluding the paper of no answer or dishonest reply. While the characteristic of population composition being assayed by frequency and technical analysis, the social support, the subjective degree of aging, the daily life activity and the life satisfaction were analyzed by t-test and ANOVA. Additionally, the factor analysis was used for the independent variable, the reliability analysis for verification of individual scale's reliability, and the regression analysis for verification of the hypothesis.
The first result in aspect of the social support, the subjective degree of aging, the daily life activity and the severity of symptoms according to social anthropological factors in the aged with chronic disease were as follows. In the matter of the social support according to social anthropological factors, the economic level, the monthly allowance, the frequency of hospital visit were significant statistically in the material aid for friends ,neighborhood, family and relatives and the daily communication with family, relatives, neighborhood. In the subjective degree of aging, the significant difference was found in sexuality, age, marital state, educational level, health status, economic level, monthly family income, housing pattern, and frequency of hospital visit. In the severity of symptom according to social anthropological factors, the significant difference was found in sexuality, age, marital state, educational level, health status, economic level, monthly allowance, monthly family income, housing pattern, and frequency of hospital visit. When it comes to relationship between general characteristic and daily life activity, sexuality, age, marital state, educational level, health status, monthly allowance, and housing pattern showed the meaningful difference in independent activity, family-oriented activity, self-development, and socio-cultural activity.
The second result shows the social support, the subjective degree of aging, and the severity of symptoms had the influence on the daily life activity. Analyzing each of factors, it was evident that the independent activity was affected with the material aid for friends ,neighborhood, family and relatives, the daily communication with family, relatives, neighborhood, the aging of daily life and the severity of symptom. The family-oriented activity was found to be under the influence of the material aid for friends, neighborhood, family and relatives, the daily communication with family, relatives, neighborhood, psychosocial aging and the severity of symptom. The self-development was influenced by the material aid for friends, neighborhood, family and relatives, the aging of daily life, psychosocial aging, and the severity of symptom. The material aid for friends, the psychosocial aging and the severity of symptom had influence on the socio-cultural activity.
The last result in aspect of the relationship among the social support, the subjective degree of aging and the life satisfaction showed that the influential factors on life satisfaction were by the material aid for friends, neighborhood, family and relatives, the aging of daily life, psycho social aging, and the severity of symptom. In terms of the relationship between daily life activity and life satisfaction, the life satisfaction was affected with the degree of self-support, the family oriented activity, the self-development.
The social anthropological factor, the social support, the subjective degree of aging and the severity of symptom might seem to be in no connection with one another, but they are thought to be correlated within the limit of the ability of accomplish the daily life and the quality of life.
In conclusion, the government, including our society, should devote their attention to enhance the activities to urge us to serve our community in addition to loving ourselves. Furthermore, based on this study, the policy is necessary that the government develop the program for the diversity of all factors and provide us with a wide range of education so that the old people could join the program and be rendered the opportunity.