Abstract
The purpose of this doctoral thesis is to investigate the socio-economic indicators that affect the health level of the elderly, while the individual objectives of the thesis are: i) To record the current profile of the elderly in the country's Open Centres of Elderly Care, as it is in the period of the economic crisis. ii) To explore the perception of the elderly about the impact of the economic crisis on their health and lifestyle. (iii) To assess the factors that affect the quality of life of elderly. (iv) To investigate the degree of correlation between socio-economic indicators and the quality of life of older involved in that research. v) To explore the differentiation of the degree of correlation between socio-economic indicators and the quality of life of the elderly. Given the usefulness of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and their application in the fields of physical health, mental health, health services and general health management, the results of the survey are plot ...
The purpose of this doctoral thesis is to investigate the socio-economic indicators that affect the health level of the elderly, while the individual objectives of the thesis are: i) To record the current profile of the elderly in the country's Open Centres of Elderly Care, as it is in the period of the economic crisis. ii) To explore the perception of the elderly about the impact of the economic crisis on their health and lifestyle. (iii) To assess the factors that affect the quality of life of elderly. (iv) To investigate the degree of correlation between socio-economic indicators and the quality of life of older involved in that research. v) To explore the differentiation of the degree of correlation between socio-economic indicators and the quality of life of the elderly. Given the usefulness of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and their application in the fields of physical health, mental health, health services and general health management, the results of the survey are plotted in the corresponding geographical locations on the maps, giving the responsible persons a complete view of the geographical distribution of socio-economic indicators that affect the health level of the elderly. For the collection of data and answers to the research questions, a number of questionnaires were distributed to the elderly in many Open Centres of Elderly Care in the country. A total of 897 questionnaires were filled in. The survey period was between March 2015 and July 2016. Methods of Descriptive Statistics (calculation of frequencies and frequency distributions, central trend indicators, dispersion) were applied in order to present the study data and to extract conclusions about the population under investigation. The data was imported and processed using the SPSS 23 statistical packet, where both the graphical representation of the results and all inductive statistical checks were performed.Regarding the correlation between demographic characteristics and aspects of quality of life of the elderly, it is established that: a) for the ages of elderly under70 years they have a better understunding by all aspects of the quality of life compared to the ages of 70 - 80 years of age, who in turn live better than those over the age of 80; (b) there is no statistically acceptable correlation between the marital status of elderly and the aspects of quality of life.Regarding the correlation between social characteristics and aspects of quality of life of the elderly, it is established that: a) the elderly living in urban areas today perceive and better live all aspects of quality of life compared to those living in semi-urban areas which, in turn, live better than those living in rural areas; (b) those living in urban areas in the past perceive and better live all aspects of quality of life compared to those living in semi-urban areas in the past, which in turn live better than those living in rural areas; (c) holders of higher education qualifications perceive and better live all aspects of quality of life compared to those with lower education qualifications.Regarding the existence of correlations between economic characteristics and aspects of the quality of life of the elderly, it is established that: a) elderly with economic autonomy better live all aspects of the quality of life compared to those with lack in economic autonomy; b) elderly with higher annual income better understand and live all aspects of quality of life compared to those that have a lower level of annual income; (c) elderly who feel that the economic crisis does not affect them, they better perceive the quality of life and they feel that they are enjoying life. However, the perception of the current economic crisis is not statistically correlated with a sense of happiness for most of the time.Regarding the existence of correlations between health characteristics and aspects of the quality of life of older people, it is established that: a) elderly with good health which allows them to have activity, live better all aspects of the quality of life compared to those who do not (b) elderly with a good physical condition live better all aspects of quality of life than those who do not have a good physical condition; (c) elderly suffering from pain affecting their well-being are experiencing worse all aspects of quality of life in comparison with those who do not suffer from pain; (d) elderly with health problems limiting their activation at home are experiencing worse all aspects of quality of life in comparison with those whose activities are not limited to home for health reasons.Aadditionally, the relations of Life-Quality Feeling with Age as a Demographic Characteristic, Educational Level as a Social Characteristic, Economic Autonomy and Yearly Income as Economic Characteristics, and Natural Health and Health Feeling as Health Characteristics were investigated. A false dummy variable was created, called Life-Quality Feeling, consisting of the mean value of the variables Quality of Life, Enjoyment of Life, and Happiness included in the questionnaire. The false-variable was associated with the following variables and groups of variables: The first tested correlation was made with the variable Age. The second tested correlation was made with the Educational Level variable. The third tested correlation was made with the pair of variables for Economic Characteristics. The fourth tested correlation was made with the pair of variables for Health Characteristics. From the application of linear regression, it is obvious that there is an apparently intensive proportional relationship of the Life-Quality Feeling with the Health Characteristics of the respondents, a less intensive proportional relationship of the Life Quality Sense with the Economic Characteristics of the respondents, and an even less intensive proportional relationship of the Quality of Life Sense with Age and Educational Level as Demographic and Social Characteristics of Respondents respectively. It is noted that the findings of these correlations by linear regression are fully consistent with the previously mentioned correlations. It was also found that there is almost complete coincidence of research findings with the theoretical approaches of the reported literature, with the exception of the elements of the marital status of the elderly and the hypothesis that married, widowed, divorced, separated and unmarried have better quality of life in turn, but there is no statistically acceptable relationship, probably due to the type and size of the sample. It also appears that the feeling of happiness of elderly in most of the time is not solely related to the impact of the economic crisis, possibly due to the type and size of the sample. Research results were mapped to the corresponding geographical locations on the maps, giving to all responsible persons a full picture of the geographical distribution of economic and social characteristics and, in particular, of the health status of the elderly by region. Thus, the public authorities and health service providers are given the opportunity to take prompt decisions concerning their actions.
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