Health related quality of life and sociodemographic characteristics among Iranian students

Abstract

Background: As one of the main pillars of health assessment of diverse societies and influenced by the quality of life, Community Mental Health has become very important for the groups of students due to the modern highly stressful education period. Aim: The purpose of this research was to examine the relationship between the demographic variables and the general health and quality of life among the male and female students in the Islamic Azad University of Sabzevar in 2013.
Subjects and Methods: This analytical-descriptive study was conducted on a sample of 209 students who were selected using stratified sampling method. To collect the data, the following questionnaires were used: demographic questionnaire, World Health Organization's Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF) and 28-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28). Data analysis was done using SPSS 22 Software and descriptive and inferential statistics.
Results: On the basis of the findings of the study, the average overall quality of life of the female students was lower than the male students (less than male students 8.32±1.91 vs. 8.91±1.62). Alike, the average overall general health of the female students was poorer when compared to the male ones (32.64±12.91 vs. 16.41±7.63). The students with depression disorder (r=-0.178, p=0.01) and low general health(r=-0.152, p=0.029) reported lower quality of life on mental health domain.
Conclusion: Quality of life and general health play a prominent role in ensuring the vitality and efficiency of the whole community especially the youth. As a result, recognition of the factors effective in reducing the welfare of this age group and adoption of preventive measures so as to resolve their probable disorders is of particular importance.

Keywords: Quality of life, general health, education period, disorders