Background:The aim of the present study was to examine the relationships between loneliness, quality of life and the factors that may be related to the quality of life in individuals ≥65 years old living in rural areas of Turkey. Methods: The World Health Organization Quality of Life Instrument Older Adults Module (WHOQOL OLD) and Loneliness Scale for the Elderly (LSE) was administered to 427 elderly participants. Multiple linear regression was used to determine the variables that affected QOL. Results: The results of the multivariate linear regression analyses indicated that gender, marital status, education level, family income status, general health condition, living arrangement, and loneliness level for subdomains were within the predictors. Loneliness level had the strongest negative impact on the four WHOQOL OLD subdomains and total WHOQOL OLD score. It was the most important predictor for autonomy, past present future activities, social participation, death-and-dying, and intimacy subdomains and for the total QOL. Conclusions: Remarkably, a sense of loneliness in the elderly was determined to be the most important factor for predicting their QOL. Loneliness should be considered in attempts to improve QOL for the elderly, interventions to reduce loneliness should specifically target this group, and activities with the potential to increase QOL should be encouraged.

Tıp fakültesi öğrencilerinin COVID-19 hastalığı ile ilgili bilgi düzeylerinin saptanması, ilişkili olduğu düşünülen bazı değişkenlerin incelenmesi ve COVID-19 hastalığı ile ilgili davranışlarının değerlendirilmesi amaçlanmıştır. 01.08.2020-30.10.2020 tarihleri arasında Eskişehir Osmangazi Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi öğrencileri üzerinde yapılan kesitsel tipte bir araştırmadır. 984 öğrenci çalışma grubunu oluşturdu. Yazarlar tarafından hazırlanan 26 soru ile öğrencilerin COVID-19 hastalığı ile ilgili bilgileri, 15 soru ile davranışları değerlendirildi. Her doğru cevaba "1 puan" verildi, yanlış cevaplara puan verilmedi. Mann Whitney U testi ve Kruskal Wallis Analizi kullanılmıştır. Çalışma grubunda 501 (%50.9) kadın vardı. Yaşları 17-35 arasında değişmekteydi, ortalama 20.77±2.18 yıl idi. Öğrencilerin COVID-19 hastalığı ile ilgili bilgi sorularından aldıkları puanlar 5-25 arasında değişmekte olup ortalama 18.82±3.16 puan idi. Parçalanmış aile yapısına sahip olanlarda, dördüncü sınıf ve üzerinde öğrenim görmekte olanlarda ve hastalık hakkında bilgisinin yeterli olduğunu bildirenlerde COVID-19 hastalığı ile ilgili bilgi puanlarının daha yüksek olduğu saptanmıştır (her biri için; p≤0.05). Bu çalışmada en çok doğru bilinen bilgi sorusu %97.4 ile "COVID-19 hastalığının etkeni ile temas edenler 14 gün süre ile izolasyona alınır" iken en çok yanlış bilinen ise %64.8 ile "Tıbbi olmayan kumaş maskelerin koruyuculuğu yoktur" bilgi sorusu idi. Öğrencilerin COVID-19 hastalığı ile ilgili davranış sorularından aldıkları puanlar 0-15 arasında değişmekte olup ortalama 10.00±2.02 idi. Öğrencilerin COVID-19 hastalığı ile ilgili bilgileri iyi düzeydeydi, bilgi ve davranış düzeyleri arasında pozitif yönde zayıf bir ilişki vardı. Bilgi düzeylerinin arttırılması için yetkin sağlık otoriteleri tarafından daha etkili bilgilendirme çalışmalarının yapılması yararlı olabilir. Hastalık hakkında bilgi ve davranış düzeyleri arasındaki ilişkinin ortaya konabilmesi için daha kapsamlı çalışmalara ihtiyaç vardır.

This study aims to evaluate the immunization knowledge sufficiency levels, attitudes and behaviors and health literacy levels of adults living in the district center of Alpu, Eskisehir. The study is a cross-sectional study conducted on individuals aged 18 years and over who live in the district center of Alpu between 16 November and 30 December 2018. The study group consisted of 955 participants who gave their verbal consent. The survey includes questions about the evaluation of immunization knowledge, attitudes and practices and the questions from the European Health Literacy Scale Short Form(HLS-EU-Q16). The statistical significance value was accepted as p≤0.05. 493 participants (51.62%) of the study group were female. Their ages ranged between 18 and 85 years with a mean±SD of 42.66±15.64 years. In the study, it was found that 325 people(34.03%) had insufficient knowledge of immunization. A positive weak correlation was found between the scores obtained from the information questions about immunization and the scores obtained from HLS-EU-Q16(r=0.252;p=0.001). It was found that there was a weak positive correlation between the scores obtained from information questions about immunization and the scores obtained from questions about their attitudes and practices towards immunization services(r=0.333;p=0.001). Being 65 years and older, living in the village having not been vaccinated in the last 10 years and lack of previous information about vaccines, were found to be important risk factors for lack of knowledge level on immunization. In the study, 34.03% of the participants in the group had insufficient knowledge of immunization. Determining the factors that affect the level of knowledge about immunization may be important in terms of sustaining the effectiveness of vaccination applications and campaigns. Health education and information services can be provided to increase the level of immunization knowledge.

Objective: Since chronic diseases and multimorbidity require long-term treatment and follow-up, it brought up the evaluation of the quality of life in the management and follow-up of patients. The aim of the study was to evaluate the relationship between chronic disease and multimorbidity and quality of life in adults.Method:The study is a cross-sectional type of research conducted in adults who applied to the Family Health Centers (FHC) in Eskisehir. The study data were obtained through questions of sociodemographic characteristics, risky health behaviors and the presence of chronic diseases diagnosed by physicians and a questionnaire consisting of the World Health Organization Quality of Life Questionnaire-8 (EUROHİS-OQL-8) scale. Mann-Whitney U, Kruskal Wallis and Multiple Linear Regression Analysis were used to analyze the data. Results: Among the 2324 people who participated in the study, the most frequently reported physician-diagnosed chronic disease was hypertension (33.3%). After adjusting for the effect of factors related to the quality of life in the multiple linear regression, it was found that except for the subdomain money and the conditions of the living place the quality of life was negatively related to the presence of chronic disease. The quality of life was also negatively affected in all of the chronic diseases mentioned excluding hyperlipidemia. Conclusion: It was found that chronic disease and multimorbidity are an important problem that reduces the quality of life. It was concluded that it is important to consider quality of life in chronic disease management and follow-up in primary health care institutions.

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