Evaluation of Family Functionality and Affecting Factors of The Elderly in Edirne Provincial Center

Sevgi Akyol Durgun, Önder Sezer, Hamdi Nezih Dağdeviren

Keywords: family, functional status, Family APGAR Scale, elderly, Family Medicine

Aim:

Our study aimed to determine the family functionality of the elderly living in Edirne city center and factors that can affect family functionality.

Method:

The study was carried out with 394 participants aged 65 and over, registered to Family Health Centers in the Edirne city center. The data were collected by a questionnaire with 26 questions questioning the sociodemographic characteristics of the participants, their chronic disease status, and their relationships with family members, and a 5-question questionnaire including the Family APGAR (adaptation, partnership, growth, affection, resolve) Scale.
The suitability of the questionnaire data obtained in the study to normal distribution was determined by Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilk tests, histogram and probability graphs, skewness and kurtosis values. Descriptive statistics, Mann Whitney U, Kruskal Wallis and Spearman correlation tests were used. p<0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results:

Women were 56.6% of the participants. The mean of the participant's age was found to be 70.47±5.28 years. The most common chronic disease was hypertension (67.8%). The average score of the participants from the Family APGAR (adaptation, partnership, growth, affection, resolve) was 8.65±2.17, and it was found that 87.1% of the participants had high family functionality, 8.1% had medium and 4.8% had low functionality.
A significant relationship was found between APGAR score and age, monthly household income, social security status, relationships with family members, living alone at home, smoking status, and the presence of someone in need of care at home.

Conclusions:

Family physicians should determine the family dynamics of elderly people and detect dysfunctions. It should be aimed to improve the quality of care provided to the elderly and ensure active aging by encouraging strengthening family relationships, and making suggestions and interventions on these issues.

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