Avaliação de fatores comportamentais associados à qualidade de vida em idosos ativos na comunidade de Juiz de Fora-MG: estudo longitudinal

Abstract

Despite the number of studies that have evaluated factors associated with quality of life (QOL) in older , the vast majority focus on factors traditionally associated with QOL. The inclusion of more comprehensive frameworks (e.g., behavioral aspects) could help identify other factors that are rarely included in traditional models, but may also have an important influence on the quality of life of older people. The objective was to investigate, through an expanded model, the factors associated with quality of life in community-dwelling elderly people followed for two years. Longitudinal study involving 290 active elderly people in the community. It was decided to include a more comprehensive assessment of factors associated with QOL, which included demographic-economic (e.g. sex, income), biological (e.g. functionality, cognition, diseases), psychological (e.g. depression, anxiety, stress), social (e.g. depression, anxiety, stress) aspects (e.g. social support) and behavioral (e.g. religiosity, spirituality, resilience, altruism, loneliness). QOL was assessed using the WHOQOL-Bref instrument. The present study proposed a more comprehensive model of factors associated with quality of life, showing that some behavioral factors such as religiosity, resilience and loneliness were as associated with different dimensions of quality of life in the two-year follow-up, as traditional factors such as social support, income and smoking. These findings show that health professionals must pay special attention to factors that are often little addressed in clinical practice, as they can significantly influence the quality of life of the elderly.