A cross-sectional study to evaluate the Psychological Morbidity, General Well-being, Quality of Life and their association among elderly people staying in Old Age Homes from India

Background Elderly staying in old age homes (OAH) are more vulnerable to psychological problems. However, there is a dearth of data on presence of psychological morbidity and its association with quality of life and psychological well-being. Aim To evaluate psychological morbidity, quality of life, well-being and subjective happiness and their association among the elderly population staying in OAH. Methods It was a cross-sectional study. Participants were assessed on the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21 Questionnaire, World Health Organization Quality-of-Life Scale BREF, Subjective Happiness scale, and PGI General Wellbeing Scale. Results 67 elderly with a mean age of 74.3±7.8 yrs. were selected. 61.2% had anxiety disorder, 35.8% had depression, and 56.7% had stress. 55.2% reported poor psychological well-being. Overall score on WHOQOL BREF was 75.6, and most affected domain was physical, followed by social relations and psychological domain of QOL. Females had a significantly higher level of depression compared to males (t-2.380; p-0.020). Age had a significant negative association with overall general well-being (r-0.329; p-0.007), quality of life in terms of physical health (r-0.247; p-0.043), psychological health (r-0.324; p-0.007), and social relationship (r-0.365; p-0.002) and significant positive association with anxiety (r-0.262; p-0.032) and level of stress (r-0.265; p-0.030). A significant negative correlation of anxiety, depression, and stress was seen with happiness, quality of life and general wellbeing. Conclusion There is an urgent need to design sustainable policies for developing elderly-friendly services, improvement of the environment and multifaceted intervention to improve the overall health of elderly people staying in OAH.