Perceptions of ederly people's quality of life in Vietnam

Background: Quality of life (QoL) is an important health index for the elderly in every country. Measurement of the elderly's QoL requires instruments which are culturally sensitive with demonstrated reliability and validity. Methods: It is based on the initial analyses of the first step of a study designed to explore views of both public health professionals and old people (60 and above) on elderly QoL and to adapt and validate a QoL instrument. Qualitative data of this stage were collected from 11 in-depth interviews (5 public health professioners and 6 elderly key informants) and 9 focus group discussions (FGDs) of old people in three communities. All in-depth interviews and FGDs were taped and transcribed. Nvivo software was used by 4 independent researchers to analyse the data. Results and conclusion: Six dimensions including physical, psychological, social, environmental, spiritual/belief and economic were perceived as the most importance to QoL of the elderly. Both elderly in urban and rural considered physical health an important dimension in their life. However, the elderly in urban valued relationship with their children as more important while the elderly in rural worried more about their economic condition. Findings are very useful for developing a reliable instrument to measure QoL of Vietnamese elderly.