The determine Quality of Life and Its Relationship with Perceived Needs and General Family Function from the Viewpoint of Elderly of Stroke Survivors Referrig to Neurology clinics of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences

Abstract

Abstract Introduction & Objective: Stroke is one of the most common chronic diseases and the main reason for the inability of adults and it is because of acute nerve damage caused by abnormal blood flow to part of the brain tissue or rupture of one of the cerebrovascular vessels. Majority of patients suffer from severe neurological defects after acute phase of stroke. Materials and Methods: The present study was cross-sectional (descriptive-correlation) and its population included all aging stroke survivors referred to the neurology clinics of the educational and therapeutic centers of the University of Medical Sciences of East Azarbayjan province. The sample of the study included 218 elderly people who were selected by a convenience sampling method. Data were collected by demographic characteristics, Specific Quality of Life scale (SS-QOL), Long Unmet Needs Stroke Survivors (LUNS) and Family Assessment Device (FAD-GF12) questionnaires and then analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics in SPSS-16 version. Results: The mean score of total quality of life of elderly stroke survivors was 31.95 (range of 12- 60). This indicates a low quality of life. The mean score of perceived needs was 13.18 (range of 0- 22). The most unmet need was related to disease information(76.1%), the least unmet need was related to disability deriving certificate(27.1%). This is considered medium to high level. The mean score of General Family Functioning of elderly stroke survivors was 27.29 (range of 12-48). There was an inverse and significant statistical relationship between the physical and psychological quality of life and the perceived needs (p<0.001). There was an inverse and significant statistical relationship between the score of physical quality of life (P=0.059) and psychological (P=0.010) with the General Family Functioning. The perceived need predicts the quality of life with a power of -0.613. Total need had a significant and inverse effect on psychological quality of life with P-value <0.001. Conclusions: The results of this study indicated that the total score of the Quality of life of the elderly Stroke Survivors was low level. This study showed that the total score Perceived Needs was medium to high level. The most unmet need was information and the least unmet need was related to disability deriving certificate.The score of the total score of the General Family Functioning from the viewpoint of the elderly people stroke survivors was medium level. The participants of the study found that the quality of life of the old aged stroke survivors has an inverse relationship with the Perceived Needs and the General Family Functioning. The present study depicted that there is a direct relationship between the score of the Perceived Needs and score of the General Family Functioning.