Quality of life: gender differences in aged Kashmiri migrants in Jammu, India

ABSTRACT

Background: There is continuous change in the demographic structure with aged people growing rapidly in proportion to the younger ones. Understanding quality of life of aged is important. The Kashmir region in northern state of India has witnessed a lot of disturbance, leading forced migration. The young adults who had experienced a great stress while fleeing from their homeland are now mostly falling within the aged category of the population. Their in-depth assessment of quality of life is necessary as this group of aged people has already borne great trauma and are still not properly settled. The findings from the current study may be utilized for developing tailored interventions for the aged migrant people. Aim: This research is an attempt to study gender differences in quality of life among aged Kashmiri migrants residing in Jammu. Methods: Using the simple random sampling data was collected from 280 aged Kashmiri migrants residing in Jammu since 1990. The mean age for the entire sample was 68.49 years. WHOQOL-BREF was used to assess quality of life. Data were collected individually with the help of research assistants proficient in speaking Kashmiri. Results: Results of t test show there are differences in physical health, psychological health, and social relationships of male and female aged Kashmiri migrants. The male aged Kashmiri migrants were better on these domains of quality of life. There was no difference between the two on environmental health. Conclusion: The study revealed that the aged Kashmiri Migrant women need more attention so that their quality of life is enhanced. Key message Lower quality of life among female aged migrants draws our attention to develop certain interventions to enhance their quality of life