The effect of communication with physician and sociodemographic factors on quality of life: A survey after coronavirus disease (COVID-19) lockdown in Turkey

ABSTRACT

Our study aimed to investigate the immediate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on quality of life (QoL) among adults aged ≥65 years in Kahramanmaraş City, Turkey. The sample of the study consists of 402 elderly people. The relationships of all factors and the scores of QoL were analyzed with Pearson correlation analysis, and multiple linear regression analysis. The average value of QoL was found to be 3.56. It was observed that communication with physicians during the restriction process could positively affect the perception of quality of life. Elderly adults who reported using the Internet reported better QoL levels. Significant relationships were found between educational status, marital status, health insurance and chronic illness status, and QoL. Our sample shows that the epidemic does not negatively affect the perception of quality of life in the short term. Personal characteristics of elderly adults and their communications with the physician appear to have a protective effect on QoL during the epidemic. These findings would need to be verified in larger population studies.

KEYWORDS:

• Quality of life
• communication with physician
• elderly people
• COVID-19
• sociodemographic factors