ABSTRACT
Background: Quality of life in elderly is more relevant towards an ageing society. In India, the awareness is very little about the special needs of the elderly and their care takers (physical and mental health, psychological and social support). Furthermore, among elderly there is a variation between those living in old age homes (OAHs) and those living in general population. Hence the present study was undertaken to assess and compare the quality of life of elderly living in OAHs and community.Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among elderly in old age homes and family set up of Kanchipuram district, Tamil Nadu. QOL of elderly was assessed using WHO QOL - brief questionnaire after taking informed consent from the participants. Data was analyzed using SPSS 23.Results: A total of 106 elders from each group old age home and family setup were the study participants. Quality of life was good 72.5% in family and in OAHs it was only 56.2%. The main reason for residing in OAHs was no family, lack of care takers. All the four domains were found to be highly statistically significant.Conclusions: From this study we are able to find out that quality of life in family setup is better than OAHs, psychologically many people were depressed as they live separately from their family and relatives, friends and the community they lived.