Abstract
The article will discuss the following two questions: • which factors does the patients believe are the most important to them in order to experience good life quality and what factors contribute to reduction of life quality? • how satisfied are patients receiving home health nursing care with the different domains in life that are inportant to them and how do they evaluate their total life quality? The theoretical framework is based on the concept of quality of life containing the following four dimensions: health and functioning, psycological/spiritual, sosioeconomic and family. The study used an explorative descriptive design. Data collection was carried out by interview using the Ferrans and Powers Quality of Life Index, two open ended questions about quality of life, and demographic variables. 57 elderly patients that received home health care nursing were included in the study. The regional ethical committee approved the study and written informed consent was obtained 61% were women, 39% were men. The mean age was 80 years, 57% were widowed and 82% had children. The patients rated in general their life quality as good. The area that had the lowest mean score was health and functioning. They rated the importance of social relations especially for children, familiy and spouse as high. They also stated that living in their own home was a very important factor for life quality. For several of the patients this was only possible with the help of the home health nursing care. All of the patients rated good health and functional status as the most important factor for life quality. This might be due to the fact that lack of this contributes to the person losing control, independence, and becoming dependent on others for help. It is therefor imperative that the home health nurse helps the patient on their terms to adjust to the environment and provide help for maximum independence with the patients'preference in mind.