Objective: The general aim of this comparative study is to compare two different realities and to analyze where there are marked differences between the elderlyxs quality of life in institutions located in urban and in rural areas. This study aims also to identify the different components that involve these people, providing a global description of their necessities. Furthermore another goal is to evaluate people’s several problems, their necessities, the management of the services and the distribution of the resources.
Design: For this study we used two sample groups, one from a rural environment and another from an urban one, and these two samples were submitted to an instrument to measure the elderlyxs quality of life. EASYcare is a system that makes a fast and comprehensive initial evaluation of the elderlyxs physical, mental and social well being. It was created to give a global description of the elderlyxs perceptions of their necessities. It focuses an the quality of life and it recognizes the family’s and the other auxiliariesx role.
Materials and Methods: A calculation based an a significant number of elderly people was done, in order to give it a good internal consistency and validity. Therefore a total sample of 60 individuals was suggested and it was subdivided into two sub samples: 30 individuals from the rural area and 30 from the urban one. The statistic was done using SPSS.
Results: In what concerns physical disability, I can conclude that there is a greater percentage of elderly people suffering from organic pathologies in the urban area than in the rural one. I also verified that there’s a higher incidence of depression in the urban area; contrary to what I thought with regard to the isolation that exists in the rural area. I could also see that there is a greater percentage of cognitive reduction in the urban area.
Conclusion: The Portuguese government has approached the elderlyxs quality of life in different contexts and has promoted some measures so that the Portuguese elderly can integrate and develop their capabilities in an aging with quality and prosperity as it happens in the most developed European countries. These conclusions may lead us to think that a possible decentralization of resources may be indeed a good measure so that the Portuguese government acts as fast and as effective as possible in what concerns this idea, balancing the results in both urban and rural areas.
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