Factors Associated with the Quality of Life of Dependent Individuals in Lak Hok Subdistrict Mueang Pathum Thani District, Pathum Thani Province

Abstract

This descriptive study aimed to: (1) examine personal characteristics, predisposing factors, enabling factors, reinforcing factors, and the quality of life of dependent persons in Lak Hok Subdistrict, Mueang Pathum Thani District, Pathum Thani Province; and (2) investigate the relationships between these factors and the quality of life of dependent persons. The study sample consisted of 153 dependent individuals, with 153 caregivers serving as proxy respondents who completed the questionnaires on behalf of the dependent individuals. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire with a reliability coefficient of 0.95. The instrument included five sections: personal characteristics, predisposing factors, enabling factors, reinforcing factors, and quality of life. Descriptive statistics, including frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation, were used to analyze the data. Pearson’s product-moment correlation coefficient was employed to examine the relationships among variables, with the level of statistical significance set at 0.05.

The findings revealed that most participants were female (62.7%), with a mean age of 70.75 years. The majority had completed primary education, were widowed, and were cared for by family members. Regarding the level of ability to perform Activities of Daily Living (ADL), most dependent individuals had ADL scores of 9–11 (52.3%), followed by scores of 0–4 (30.1%) and 5–8 (17.6%), respectively. The mean score for predisposing factors was 4.27 (SD = 0.72), the mean score for enabling factors was 3.80 (SD = 1.02), and the mean score for reinforcing factors was 3.84 (SD = 1.09), with all three factors predominantly at a high level. The mean score for the quality of life of dependent individuals was 3.99 (SD = 0.86), which was also predominantly at a high level.

The results of the correlation analysis indicated that predisposing factors, enabling factors, and reinforcing factors were positively correlated with the quality of life of dependent individuals at the 0.01 level of statistical significance. Enabling factors demonstrated the strongest correlation with quality of life (r = 0.726, p < 0.001), followed by predisposing factors (r = 0.697, p < 0.001) and reinforcing factors (r = 0.679, p < 0.001), respectively. The findings indicate that all three factors were positively correlated with the quality of life of dependent individuals, with enabling factors showing the strongest correlation.