Open AccessSelf‐Care and Well‐Being Model for Elderly Women: A Comparison of Rural and Urban Areas
Author(s) -
Wang HsiuHung,
Wang RueyHsia,
Shieh Carol
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
the kaohsiung journal of medical sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.439
H-Index - 36
eISSN - 2410-8650
pISSN - 1607-551X
DOI - 10.1016/s1607-551x(09)70086-5
Subject(s) - lisrel , medicine , rural area , self care , gerontology , health care , structural equation modeling , statistics , mathematics , pathology , economics , economic growth
The purposes of this study were to examine the relationships among age, social class, perceived health, self‐care, and well‐being in urban and rural elderly women and to validate and compare two models using these two groups. A causal model of self‐care and well‐being was proposed for this study based on Orem's self‐care model and empirical data. Data were collected using a survey‐interview method. Of the 351 elderly women recruited, 159 were in the urban group and 192 in the rural group. Two models of self‐care and well‐being were tested using path analysis with the LISREL 8 program. The resultant models yielded a Chi‐squared of 1.98 with two degrees of freedom ( p = 0.37) in the urban group and a Chi‐squared of 4.20 with three degrees of freedom ( p = 0.24) in the rural group, indicating good fit between the data and the two models. These two models provide guidelines for community nurses to design appropriate self‐care programs for elderly women.