Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
MILITARY MEDICINE, cilt.171, sa.11, ss.1083-1088, 2006 (SCI-Expanded)
Quality of life is a broad, complex, multidimensional concept
incorporating psychological, sociopsychologicat, economic,
philosophical, social, cultural, and spiritual dimensions. As
accompanying or even constituting the concept of quality of
life, social support (empathic, informational, instrumental,
and reassurance support) has not been studied. This study
sought to determine the effects of sociodemographic characteristics,
illness process, and type of social support on the
quality of life levels of veterans hospitahzed in a rehabilitation
center. Seventy-nine veterans were involved in the study. None
of the sociodemographic characteristics of the veterans correlated
with the quality of life of the veterans except housing
conditions. The perceived quality of life scores of the veterans
who needed psychological help were lower than those of their
counterparts (p < 0.01). The quality of life scores of the veterans
were not different from those of the average Turkish population,
but veterans who had not received any type of social
support had lower quality of life scores (3.74 vs. 4.70). Veterans
who had empathic, informational, and reassurance social
support had higher quality of life scores than did those who
did not have these types of social support. Having tangible
social support did not change the quality of life scores. Our
findings indicate that social support has a greater impact on the
perceived quality of life than sociodemographic and medical factors
among the veterans.