Determinants of QOL of Korean senior veterans’ home care service beneficiaries

Targeting the Korean Senior Veterans’ Family Home Care Service recipients, this study focuses on the quality of life (QOL) among the service recipients. This study assessed the degree of QOL, and identified the determinants of QOL among the service recipients. The study subjects were 288 elderly persons aged 65 years and over served by the Senior Veterans’ Family Home Care Service institutions located in 8 cities and counties of eastern Jeollabuk-do, a province in South Korea. Independent variables of this study are grouped into four factors (socio-demographics, health, social, service) by the characteristics of the variables. This study performed descriptive statistics, a series of t-tests, ANO VAs, OLS multiple regression, and needs assessment to achieve its goals. The study finds that the level of QOL of the sample is between moderate and good (3.54 of a 5-point Likert scale) and that QOL is influenced by all 4 factors included in the OLS model. Specifically, QOL was found to be determined in decreasing order by the categories of social activity, health condition, social support, service satisfaction, disability, number of children, and economic condition. Based on the results, implications to improve QOL among the Senior Veterans’ Family Home Care Service recipients are suggested.