The Effect of Community-Managed Palliative Care Program on Quality of Life in the Elderly in Rural Tamil Nadu, India
Authors
Amol Dongre
Department of Community Medicine, Sri Manakula Vinayagar Medical College and Hospital, Puducherry, India
Koonjangad Rajendran
Independent Consultant in Health Systems Research, Director and Team Lead, Professional Healthcare Consulting Division, Four X4 Consulting Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi, India
Suresh Kumar
Institute of Palliative Medicine, Pain and Palliative Care Society, WHO Collaborating Centre for Community Participation in Palliative Care and Long Term Care, Medical College, Calicut, Kerala, India
Pradeep Deshmukh
Department of Community Medicine, Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Sewagram, Wardha, India
Keywords:
Environment, India, Old age, Psychological, Physical, Quality of life, Rural, Social
Abstract
HelpAge India has been facilitating community-managed palliative care program in the villages of Tamil Nadu, India.
Objective:
To evaluate the effect of perceived quality of life in the elderly in the project villages in rural Tamil Nadu.
Materials and Methods:
It was a community-based evaluation study. Considering the mean difference of 0.6, design effect-2, precision-5%, power 80%, and 10% non-response, a sample size of 450 elderly persons (more than 60 years) was adequate. Sample was selected by two-stage cluster sampling. Tamil version of “WHO-Quality of Life-brief questionnaire” was used. Trained interviewers made house-to-house visits and obtained information by personally interviewing the subjects.
Results:
The mean score for perceived physical quality of life in the project area was (10.47 ± 1.80 SD) high than the mean score (10.17 ± 1.82 SD) in the control area (P = 0.013) and the mean score for psychological support (10.13 ± 2.25 SD) in project area was high than the mean score (9.8 ± 2.29 SD) in control area (P = 0.043). There was no effect on domain of social relationship and environment.
Conclusions:
In the project villages, the perceived physical quality of life and psychological support among elderly persons was significantly better than the control villages.
Keywords: Environment, India, Old age, Psychological, Physical, Quality of life, Rural, Social
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