APPENDIX-II

INTERVIEW
SCHEDULE

249
 INTERVIEW SCHEDULE

This interview schedule has been prepared to record responses from the inmates
living in the old age homes selected for the study in Ahmedabad on the topic
ASSESMENT OF QUALITY OF LIFE OF ELDERLY PEOPLE IN OLD AGE HOMES IN
AHMEDABAD.

Guided By: Researcher:

Dr. Chandrika Raval Akanksha Kumari
Professor Research Scholar
Department of Sociology Department of Sociology
Gujarat University Gujarat University

Socio- Economic Profile of the Respondents.

1. Name of the Interviewer

2. Name of the Institution

3. Age

4. Sex

5. Marital Status
a) Single
b) Widowed
c) Divorced
d) Married

6. Place of Birth

250
7. Religion
a) Hindu
b) Muslim
c) Christian
d) Sikh

8. How many Brothers and Sisters do you have?

a) None
b) One
c Two
d) Three
e) More than three

9. How many Children do you have?

a) None
b) One
c) Two
d) Three
e) More than three

10. How many Grand Children do you have?

a) None
b) One
c) Two
d) Three
e) More than three
f) NA

251
11. What kind of family were you born and brought up in?
a) Nuclear Family (Consisting of Parents and Siblings)
b) Extended Family (Parents, Grand Parents, Uncles, Aunts, Cousins, living together)
c) Orphanage, Foster Home or Institution
d) No response

12. Present condition of the Spouse?

a) Died
b) Same Institution
c) Another Institution
d) Living independently
e) With family Members
f) With Relatives
g) With Friends

13. Educational Status

a) Illiterate
b) Primary School
c) Middle School
d) High School
e) Higher Secondary
f) Post-Secondary Technical Training
g) Graduate
h) Post Graduate
i) Others

14. Occupation before coming to old age home-

15. Were you in government job? If yes, give details?

16. Do you get pension?

252
17. Amount of pension?

18. Other source of income: a) Yes

b) No
19. Do you have savings: a) Yes
b) No
20. How many inmates stay in your room?

21. What kind of living arrangement do you prefer?

a) Live alone
b) Live with Spouse Only
c) Live with Children
d) Live with Spouse & Children
e) Live in Extended Family
f) In Old age Home
g) No response

22. What kind of support do you expect from our government?

a) Financial
b) Housing
c) Health Care
d) Clothing
e) Food & Nutrition
f) Recreation
g) Transportation
h) No response

23. How often your family members visit you

24. When did you come to this old age home?

25. Why did you come to this old age home?

253
a) Poverty
b) Non acceptance in the family
c) Loneliness
d) Adjustment problem with daughter I daughter-in-law
e) Safety
f) Others (specify)

26. Who brought you to the old age home?

27. Do you pay money to the old age home? If yes, specify the amount

28. Who pays the money to the old age home?

29. How do you feel here?

30. Do you miss the environment of your home?

31. Do you miss your children?

32. Given a chance to stay with your family would you like to go back?
a) Yes b) No c) No response

33. Are you planning to move in near future?

a) Yes b) No c) No response

34. Are you aware of the elderly abuse?

a) Yes b) No c) No response

QUESTIONS RELATED TO QUALITY OF LIFE DOMAINS

Quality of life of elderly people living in old age homes: WHOQOL-Bref scale

254
Domain 1: Physical capacity
Facet 1: Activities of Daily Living
How much Very Dissatisfied Neither Satisfied Very
satisfied Dissatisfied dissatisfied Satisfied
are you nor satisfied
with your
ability to
perform
daily
activities?
1 2 3 4 5

Facet 2: Energy and Fatigue

Are you Very Dissatisfied Neither Satisfied Very
have Dissatisfied dissatisfied Satisfied
satisfied nor satisfied
with your
Energy
level for
everyday
life?
1 2 3 4 5

255
 Facet 3: Dependence upon medicines and medical aids
Are you Not at all Little bit Moderately A lot Extremely
dependent high
upon
medicines
and medical
aids in your
daily life?

1 2 3 4 5

Facet 4: Mobility
Are you Very Dissatisfied Neither Satisfied Very
satisfied Dissatisfied dissatisfied Satisfied
with your nor satisfied
mobility?

1 2 3 4 5

256
 Facet-5 Pain and discomfort
Do you feel Not at all Little bit Moderately A lot Extremely
physical
pain and
discomfort
hinders your
functions?

1 2 3 4 5

Facet-6 Sleep and rest

Are you Very Dissatisfied Neither Satisfied Very
satisfied Dissatisfied dissatisfied Satisfied
with your nor satisfied
sleep and
rest?

1 2 3 4 5

257
 Facet-7 work capacity
How Not at all Little bit Moderately A lot Extremely
satisfied are
you with
your
capacity to
work?

1 2 3 4 5

Domain 2: PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL BEING

Facet-8 Bodily image and appearance

Are you able Not at all Little bit Moderately A lot Extremely
To accept
your bodily
appearance
and are you
concerned
about it?

1 2 3 4 5

258
 Facet 9: Negative Feelings
Do you Not at all Little bit Moderately A lot Extremely
have
negative
feelings?

1 2 3 4 5

Facet 10: Positive Feelings

How often Not at all Little bit Moderately A lot Extremely
do you have
positive
feelings?

1 2 3 4 5

259
 Facet 11: Self Esteem
Do you have Not at all Little bit Moderately A lot Extremely
self-esteem
and
confidence?

1 2 3 4 5

Facet 12: Spiritualism and Personal Beliefs

Do you have Not at all Little bit Moderately A lot Extremely
spirituality
and
personal
beliefs?

1 2 3 4 5

260
 Facet 13 Thinking, Learning, Memory and Concentration
Do you think Not at all Little bit Moderately A lot Extremely
you have a
good memory
and
concentration?

1 2 3 4 5

Domain 3: Social Relationships

Facet 14: Personal Relationships

Are you Not at all Little bit Moderately A lot Extremely
satisfied
with your
personal
relationships

1 2 3 4 5

261
 Facet-15 Inmates' relationship
Do you Not at all Little bit Moderately A lot Extremely
share a good
relationship
with other
inmates?

1 2 3 4 5

Facet-16 Social support

Do you have Not at all Little bit Moderately A lot Extremely
satisfactory
social
supppport?

1 2 3 4 5

262
Domain 4: Environment and living conditions

Facet-17 Financial resources

Do you have Not at all Little bit Moderately A lot Extremely
sufficient
financial
resources to
meet all
your needs?

1 2 3 4 5

Facet-18 Freedom, physical safety and security

Do you feel Not at all Little bit Moderately A lot Extremely
safe in the
old age
home?

1 2 3 4 5

263
 Facet-19 Health and social care
Do you feel Not at all Little bit Moderately A lot Extremely
the health
services and
social care
are
satisfactory?

1 2 3 4 5

Facet-20 Home environment

Are you Not at all Little bit Moderately A lot Extremely
satisfied
with the
environment
of your old
age home?

1 2 3 4 5

264
 Facet -21 Transport
Are you Not at all Little bit Moderately A lot Extremely
satisfied
with the
transport
facilities
around
you?

1 2 3 4 5

Facet-22 Participation in and opportunities for recreation/leisure activities

Do you have Not at all Little bit Moderately A lot Extremely
enough
opportunities
for leisure
activities?

1 2 3 4 5

265
 Facet-23 Physical environment (pollution/noise/traffic/climate)
Do you feel Not at all Little bit Moderately A lot Extremely
your physical
environment
is healthy
and safe?

1 2 3 4 5

Facet-24 Opportunities for acquiring new information and skills

Do you feel Not at all Little bit Moderately A lot Extremely
you get
enough
opportunities
for acquiring
new skills?

1 2 3 4 5

266
Overall measures- single indicators

G-1 Overall quality of life

Are you Not at all Little bit Moderately A lot Extremely
satisfied
with your
quality of
life?

1 2 3 4 5

G-2 Overall life satisfaction

Are you Not at all Little bit Moderately A lot Extremely
satisfied
with your
life?

1 2 3 4 5

267
 PREFACE

This thesis takes into account the management committee members, office bearers
and inmates living in the old age homes of Ahmedabad for a comprehensive
understanding of the overall quality of life and life satisfaction of the inmates living
in the old age homes. The WHO QOL Bref developed by World Health Organization
has been used as measurement tool in this study in order to assess and evaluate the
quality of life of the elderly living in institutionalized set up across the world. This is a
tool used cross culturally for the analysis of QOL of elderly. To figure out the quality
of life and to assess the life satisfaction of the elderly, interview schedule and
observation methods were used to record their responses for a better assessment.
The results indicate that the elderly living in old age homes are rather more satisfied
and at peace, contrary to the common notion of elderly being alone, sad and
monotonous in old age homes. This thesis is organized into 6 chapters dealing with
various aspects of QOL of elderly people in Ahmedabad.

Chapter 1 deals with the introduction and a basic background of the topic along with
the context of this study. The reasons behind caring for the elderly and the
corresponding increase in the elderly population in India have been discussed in this
chapter through the census data of India and Gujarat in particular. A brief
introduction of WHO-QOL Bref instrument and the history of old age homes also
comprise major portions of chapter 1.

Chapter 2 deals with the review of literature across the national and international
arena of studies conducted on same or similar topic.

Chapter 3 contains the research methodology focused upon the objectives of the
study, hypotheses, universe of the study, sample selection process, sample size,
methods of data collection including the tools and techniques of data collection too.
A brief explanation of scoring points given by the respondents related to their quality
of life has also been included in this chapter.

14
Chapter 4 contains brief introduction of the unit of this study i.e. the old age homes,
their amenities, environment and facilities. Along with this, the socio-economic
profile of the respondents which deals with their age, gender, education, marital
status, occupation, religion, number of children and grandchildren, number of
siblings etc. and their distribution based upon their socio-economic profile.

Chapter 5 deals with the various facets across the domains of physical capacity,
psychological well-being, social factor, environmental factor and over all factors that
contribute to the quality of life of elderly living in the old age homes of Ahmedabad.
The 26 facets across the 5 domains which determine the quality of life of the elderly
comprise the WHO QOL Bref instrument developed by World Health Organisation.
This chapter also shows a study of all the facets of 5 domains and their relationship
with the various socio-economic indicators of the elderly.

Chapter 6 contains the conclusion reached out after the study, the
recommendations in the direction of improvement of the quality of life of elderly in
old age homes and the experience of my field work. This chapter also incorporates
the new directions for research on same or similar topics in the field of gerontology.

Akanksha Kumari

15