Health-Related Quality of Life among People Applying for Housing Adaptations: Associated Factors

Abstract

Housing adaptations (HA) clients are a heterogeneous group of people with disabilities experiencing restricted performance and participation in everyday life. While health-related quality of life is a common and relevant outcome in health care research, associated factors among HA clients are largely unknown. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate which factors are associated with health-related quality of life among HA clients in Sweden. The study has a cross-sectional design, using baseline data collected among 224 participants in three municipalities in Sweden. The main outcome was health-related quality of life measured by the EQ-5D. Factors investigated as potentially associated were age, sex, living conditions, cognitive impairment, usability of the home, activities of daily living (ADL) dependence, participation, and fear of falling. The associations were explored using multiple linear regression analysis. Younger age and higher dependence in ADL were associated with lower scores on the EQ-5D. The social aspect of usability in the home had a positive association with the EQ VAS. Results suggest that certain groups of HA clients might be at risk for low health-related quality of life. Knowledge of their characteristics can potentially improve development and implementation of tailored interventions aiming at increasing their health-related quality of life.

The Influence of Income and Livelihood Diversification on Health-Related Quality of Life in Rural Ethiopia

“…A potential explanation for this contradictory result might be that younger people often bear a greater load, such as agricultural activities and daily labor, and are thus exposed to occupational health risk, which may cause lower HRQOL. From another perspective, older people generally differentiate their restricted activity and dependence as a natural consequence of aging or the assets they already possess, which may have less impact on their HRQOL compared to the younger group [3]. We observed gender inequalities, as female reported better HRQOL than male.…”

“…The younger group was observed to have lower HRQOL than the older group-a pattern that is not common when considering the previously published literature, in which aging was generally associated with impaired health, both physically and mentally [13,27,35,37]. However, others reported the opposite, with low-and middle-age groups reporting a persistent negative and worsening HRQOL [3,43]. A potential explanation for this contradictory result might be that younger people often bear a greater load, such as agricultural activities and daily labor, and are thus exposed to occupational health risk, which may cause lower HRQOL.…”

“…To avoid missing potential important variables, we set p ≤ 0.1 at the bivariate level, which was then included in the multiple regression analysis with stepwise forward selection. Finally, using robust standard errors, multiple linear regression was applied and adjusted with potential influencing factors of HRQOL [3]. PCS and MCS were separately used as the dependent variables in the regression model, and the potential confounders were gender, age, marital status, household size, income, livelihood diversity index, and TLU.…”

“…Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is regarded as a multidimensional concept that mirrors an individual's subjective feeling of health, reflecting perceived physical and mental health function [1,2]. This concept goes beyond direct measures of population health by objective indicators, such as morbidity, mortality, and life expectancy, and extends to HRQOL measurement, which has become a valued indicator for evaluating health status [2][3][4][5][6]. Self-rated health is broadly acknowledged 2 of 12 as an important outcome for assessing health status at both the individual and social levels [2][3][4].…”

“…This concept goes beyond direct measures of population health by objective indicators, such as morbidity, mortality, and life expectancy, and extends to HRQOL measurement, which has become a valued indicator for evaluating health status [2][3][4][5][6]. Self-rated health is broadly acknowledged 2 of 12 as an important outcome for assessing health status at both the individual and social levels [2][3][4]. The latent power of socioeconomic status (SES) in terms of health disparities is evident in the fact that socioeconomic differences in health outcomes have been widely recognized in determining most health circumstances in many countries [7].…”