Abstract

Background: The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of quality of life and environmental factors (WHO quality of life-BREF, measurement of quality of the environment and home and community environment) on independent living in the elderly. In addition, this study aimed to find out the cut-off value and classification accuracy with the elderly who live independently and dependently.

Material and Methods: This study was conducted with elderly people (n = 262) who are over 65 years old, living in the community and nursing home in Korea. WHO quality of life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF), measurement of quality of the environment (MQE), and home and community environment (HACE) were used as measurement tools. The effect of variables on independent living was examined by logistic regression analysis. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to investigate the usefulness and cut-off value of each measurement tool.

Results: In logistic regression analysis, all domains of WHOQOL-BREF, barrier of MQE, and HACE factors influenced the independent living of the elderly (p ＜ 0.05). ROC analysis to identify the independent living of the elderly showed significant results in all domains of WHOQOL(p ＜ 0.05).MQE showed significant results only in barrier, and HACE showed significant results in HACE-community mobility, HACE-transportation factor and HACE-attitudes (p ＜ 0.05).

Conclusion: Factors such as WHOQOL-BREF, MQE, and HACE may affect the independent living of the elderly, but the overall results of ROC analysis showed high accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity in WHOQOL-BREF.