Aging & Social Change: Ninth Interdisciplinary Conference

Abstract

In order to determine the quality of life for the elderly in some countries, it is indispensable to establish the conceptual approach to quality of life we will be using as well as the parameters we will be applying to measure it in the three countries considered for our study. The purpose of this paper is to present a contrast on the quality of life enjoyed by older individuals in developed countries such as The United States and in developing countries as El Salvador and Mexico. Given that quality of life is intimately related to economical factors is difficult to use a concept of quality of life that do not requires money as its determinant factor, because this indicator cannot be applied equally to rich and poor countries alike. In our study we define quality of life as the general well-being of a person or society, defined in terms of health and happiness, rather than wealth. Although assessment tools are available to evaluate physical and social dimensions, the sense of well being is more difficult to evaluate but we will conduct interviews to older individuals in El Salvador to illustrate our study. Among the observations we address assessing “quality of life” in old people are: 1.multidimensional factors that involve everything from physical health, psychological state, level of independence, family, education, wealth, religious beliefs, a sense of optimism, local services, employment, housing and the environment. 2. cultural perspectives, values, personal expectations and goals.