The Study of Self-care and Related Factors in the Elderly with Chronic Diseases in 2018

Background & objectives: As people become older, the risk of life with chronic diseases increases, limiting the physical and mental activity of the elderly people and leads to a decline in quality of life. The World Health Organization recommends promoting of self-care for the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases. The aim of this study was to determine the level of self-care and related factors in the elderly with chronic diseases referring to specialty clinics of medical-educational centers of Ardabil. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 222 elderly people with chronic diseases (diabetes musculoskeletal, cardiovascular and renal diseases) referring to the specialty clinics of Imam Khomeini, Fatemi and Alavi Hospitals in Ardabil in 2018 were selected by convenience sampling method. Data were collected using a questionnaire including demographic characteristics and Self-care Ability Scale for the Elderly (SASE). Finally, the data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and multivariate logistic regression analysis in SPSS 16 software. Results: 191 elderly people (86%) had unsatisfactory self-care ability and only 31 of them (14%) showed good self-care ability. Elderly woman showed better self-care than men (p=0.015), while married (p=0.004), divorced (p=0.045), and widowed (p=0.013) patients had poor self-care ability compared to single people. Conclusions: According to the present study, self-care in the elderly with chronic diseases was assessed unsatisfactory, so planning and implementation of self-care promoting programs for elderly people seems necessary.