Assessing quality of life using WHOQOL-BREF: a cross-sectional study on the association between quality of life and neighborhood environmental satisfaction, and the mediating effect of health-related behaviors

Abstract

BackgroundQuality of life (QOL) is an important component in assessing people’s health. Environmental quality can influence people’s QOL in the physical health, psychological, social relationships and environment domains. QOL in the four domains, overall QOL and general heath of residents living in the Kowloon Peninsula of Hong Kong were assessed. The association between satisfaction with the neighborhood environment and QOL, and health-related behaviors which mediated the effect were investigated.MethodsA sample of 317 residents completed a questionnaire which comprised the WHOQOL-BREF (Hong Kong version) to assess QOL, the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) to study physical activities, and questions on satisfaction with the neighborhood environment, health-related behaviors and socio-demographics. One-way ANOVA and linear regression were used to study the associations between environmental satisfaction and QOL in the four domains, overall QOL and general health, followed by assessing the relationships between environmental satisfaction and the potential health-related behavior mediators with regression tests. Mediation analysis was conducted using multiple linear regressions to study the effects of environmental satisfaction on QOL in the four domains, overall QOL and general health, as well as the potential mediating roles played by various health-related behaviors. A P-value of < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant.ResultsThe residents had a relatively higher physical health mean score of 70.83 ± 12.69, and a lower environmental mean score of 61.98 ± 13.76. Moderate satisfaction with the neighborhood environment had a significant relationship with QOL in the psychological domain (β = 0.170, P = 0.006), however, this effect was partially mediated by the non-smoking behavior of the residents (β = 0.143, P = 0.022).ConclusionsOur residents had lower QOL in the physical health and psychological domains but similar QOL in the social relationships and environmental domains compared to other countries. Only QOL in the psychological domain could be predicted by the satisfaction with the neighborhood environment, and non-smoking status was a partial mediator of the effect of moderate environmental satisfaction on QOL in the psychological domain. Refrain from smoking seems to be able to lower the influence of neighborhood environment on people’s QOL in the psychological domain to a certain extent.

The Impact of the Environment on Quality of Life and Mediating Effects of Sleep and Stress

“…The findings suggest that it positively affects physical activity and physical QoL, even if the space is limited, which is a characteristic of the urban area of Hong Kong. Previous studies suggest green space had a positive effect not only on physical health and activity [19,24,41,59] but also on psychological health [22,31,60]. In our study, there were significant benefits of green space on physical activity and physical health but not on psychological health.…”

“…Perception of the public open space and built environment are essential constituent in the evaluation of the neighbourhood, health [36] and QoL [37]. Our earlier study, however, found that satisfaction with the neighbourhood environment was only significantly related to psychological QoL [31]. Residents who reported perceived moderate satisfaction with the public space in neighbourhood had significantly higher psychological QoL.…”

“…People who live in an environment that has 80% or more green space reported longer sleep duration at night [29]. Other individual health practices such as smoking, drinking [30,31] [34,35]. A survey was conducted among Australian adults and found that environmental attributes including access to parks, bicycle and walking trails and the presence of greenness were positively related to physical and mental health [35].…”

Using Virtual Soundwalk Approach for Assessing Sound Art Soundscape Interventions in Public Spaces

“…Still, the connections between soundscape as a perceptual construct [17] and health effects are under investigated [18]. Quality of 2 of 27 urban open spaces is an indicator for quality of city life [19], yet urban spaces are generally highly exposed to urban noise sources, i.e., the streets often being the very source of motor traffic noise, which is also the source which has the highest impact on population's health [20,21]. On the other side, lowering sound pressure levels were proved to be insufficiently effective for achieving acoustic comfort [22].…”

Quality of life and health behaviours of the elderly living in rural and urban areas

“…Przegląd międzynarodowej literatury dotyczącej jakości życia pokazuje jednak, że w zależności od specyficznych warunków w poszczególnych krajach wyniki mogą się różnić. Na przykład z badań przeprowadzonych w Hongkongu wynika, że tamtejsi mieszkańcy mają niższe poczucie jakości życia w dziedzinie zdrowia fizycznego i psychicznego, ale podobne w dziedzinie stosunków społecznych i środowiska w porównaniu z innymi krajami [13].…”