Self-care Agency Of The Elderly In Fenyang Urban Area And Analysis Of Related Factors

ObjectionThe purpose of this study was to explore the present situation of self-care agency of the elderly in Fengyang urban area and to its related factors .MethodsThe four instruments used to measure the study's variables included a demographic questionnaire,the SSRI(Social Support Rate Information),the GDS(Geratic Depression Scale),the ESCAS (Exercise of Self-Care Agency Scale).The 302 olders were selected out by cluster sampling from a variety of community settings within Fengyang urban area of Shanxi.Data were analyzed using by Statiscal Package for Social Science(SPSS)11.0.Results1.The scores for the ESCA Scale ranged from 56 to 158, The mean score of the self-care agency of the elderly isll6.87±18.93, 57.7% subjects perceived a high rating level and 41.9% subjects perceived a medium rating level.2.Statistically significant relations were found between the following condition factors and self-care agency of the elderly: marital status, educational level, occupation, income, living arrangements, social support, activity of daily living, depression status, obtaining health education status (P<0.05); There were no significant relations with age, sex, number of children (P>0.05) . The result of multiple regression showed that the main factors arranged from high to low including social support, depression status, educational level, individual income, obtaining health education status, perceived health status. The correlation coefficient between the six variables and self-care agency of the elderly was 0.578; the combined six variables could account for 33.4% of the total variables of self-care agency.ConclusionsThe results of this study indicated that the level of self-care agency among the elderly in the community were different,generally tended to a medium-to high rating level. self-care agency of the elderly was affected by various factors through out the process of growth and development. And the main factors were social support,depression status,educational level,income, obtaining health education status, perceived health status. Community health nurses can use these results in directing interventions that promote the self-care and health of older adults.