ABSTRACT

Objective : The purposes of this study were as follows: (1) to investigate the activities that Korean elderly people usually participate in, (2) to compare the features of activities between male and female elderly per-sons, and (3) to clarify the factors that influence the quality of life in the elderly based on the Model of Human Occupation(MOHO). Methods : The participants were 199 male and 258 female elderly subjects aged 60 and over. Their quality of life was measured using the Older Adult Life Satisfaction Scale devised by Sung-Jae Choi, and their level of activities was measured using the Activity Check List, which was adapted for Korean culture and environment. Results : In general, the quality of life was higher in male elderly subjects than in female elderly ones, and it was also affected by age, presence of spouse, health status, level of education, present companion, financial status, and preparation period of retirement. The main activities were IADL in female elderly subjects and high-demand physical activities in male elderly subjects. As the elderly participate in more activities such as IADL, low and high-demanding physical activities, and social activities, the quality of life was higher in both groups according to the correlations between the quality of life and each activity. The factors that could pre-dict the quality of life based on hierarchical multiple linear regression analyses were as follows: (1) age, health status, economic status, preparation period for retirement, and social activities in both groups; (2) health status, presence of spouse, economic status, and preparation period for retirement in male elderly subjects; and (3) age, health status, economic status, preparation period for retirement, and social activities in female elderly subjects. Conclusion : The significance of this study could be placed on the facts that activity levels of Korean elderly persons were investigated and that their quality of life was evaluated according to the activities. In the fu-ture, various studies investigating the relationships between activity levels and quality of life are expected for the Korean elderly nation-wide using a larger number of participants.