Quality of life among home healthcare patients in Saudi Arabia: household-based survey

BACKGROUND: The need for home healthcare programs is an increasingly becoming important common component of healthcare worldwide, as an alternative to hospitalization, owing to the growing elderly population, chronic and acute diseases that need continuous monitoring and care. The overall aim of this study was to describe and assess the quality of life (QOL) and associated determinants among patients enrolled in the Home Health Care (HHC) program affiliated with the Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted among patients enrolled at the HHC program. The World Health Organization QOL questionnaire (WHOQOL-BREF) was used to collect data about the different domains of patients’ QOL. Logistic regression models were fitted to determine factors associated with QOL low score. RESULTS: The study included 253 patients. Mean age was 67.05 (± 20.0). The overall QOL for HHC patients was significantly affected by both socio-demographic and morbid characteristics. In the final Multivariate logistic regression models, marital status, and having psychological problems, stroke and number illness were independently associated with the overall QOL of HHC patients (p = .022, p = .002, p = .031, .057 respectively). The physical health domain score was significantly associated with education level, having psychological problems and stroke (p = .028, p = .002, p = .007 retrospectively) whereas the psychological domain score was significantly associated with age (p = < 0.001) and three types of chronic diseases: pulmonary (p = .002), psychological problems (p = < 0.001). The social domain score was significantly associated only with the marital status (p = .026). The environmental domain was significantly associated with the education level and having stroke (p = .017 vs .027). CONCLUSIONS: The overall QOL and its domains are significantly associated with several different factors. Many of these factors can be monitored and enhanced by improving quality of HHC services, thus improving the QOL of patients.