Socio-economic status and social participation as predictors of quality of life of older adults with functional limitations: a cross-sectional study in Italy and Greece

• Older adults with functional limitations constitute a vulnerable group with usually lower levels of health status and quality of life (QoL). In both Italy and Greece, informal care and privately-hired care workers are common measures for providing them continuous care and support, more than public care services. This situation might increase the risk of worst QoL if older adults are not equipped with own social and economic resources for coping with daily life limitations, especially in a macro-context heavily influenced in recent years by the effects of the economic crisis. The study aimed at identifying the role of socio-economic status (SES) and social participation as predictors of QoL of older adults with functional limitations, after the Great Recession period. We used data on older adults (50+ years) from the Survey on health, ageing and retirement in Europe (Share) wave 6 (2015) for conducting a crosssectional descriptive analysis and running a hierarchical linear regression model for both Italy and Greece, with blocs of predictors concerning demographic, socio-economic, health, access to care, and social participation domains. In both countries, higher levels of SES and social participation were strongly associated with higher QoL, although good health status remained the most influential predictor of better QoL. Our results suggested that multiple social inequalities are likely to occur among most socially disadvantaged older adults and may heavily affect their QoL and social inclusion.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Sociologi -- Socialt arbete (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Sociology -- Social Work (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Socialt arbete

Social Work

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)