Activities of daily living,quality of life,social support and depression levels of elderly individuals in Turkish society

Objective: to determine activities of daily living,quality of life,social support and depression levels of elderly individuals and the factors affecting each of these items. methods: the cross-sectional study was conducted from august 2009 to june 2012 in edirne,turkey,and included elderly individuals over 60 years of age. data was collected using a survey form,the katz activities of daily living scale,the multidimensional scale of perceived social support,the european quality of life-5 dimensions scale and the geriatric depression scale. data was analysed using spearman's correlation analysis. results: of the 912 subjects in the study,509(55.8%) were females and 402(44.2%) weremales,with an overallmean age of 68.05 ± 6.6 years (range: 60-94 years). besides,644(70.6%) of the subjects weremarried and 595(65.2%) were living with their spouse. the levels of social support and activities of daily living of elderly individuals with a high quality of life were higher,and their levels of depression were lower (p<0.05). conclusions: older age,chronic health problems and polypharmacy should be taken into account when planning healthcare services for the elderly to ensure that they maintain a better quality of life. © 2015,pakistan medical association. all rights reserved.