Keywords: Quality of life, older adults, slums, Ghana
 

"Quality of life, health, and social needs of slum-dwelling older adults in Ghana"

This dissertation researches the Quality of Life (QoL) of older adults living in two slums in Ghana. The studies included in this dissertation reviewed the quality of instruments available for assessing QoL in African countries and used one of these instruments (WHOQOL-BREF) to evaluate the QoL of older adult living in two Ghanaian slums. Results showed that the QoL of older adults in slums is moderate, that the physical domain showed the lowest scores, and that males consistently showed higher QoL scores compared to females.

Studies in this dissertation also investigated the health and social care needs of older slum-dwelling adults, from both the perspective of the older adult and from the perspective of the healthcare professional. Results showed various unmet needs, and that different factors influence these unmet needs, such as lack of healthcare insurance, long distances to facilities and negative attitudes of care professionals.

Lastly, this dissertation gave insight into student nurses’ attitudes towards older adults as well as their interest in geriatric care. With less than 1% of student nurses with an interest in caring for older adults after graduation, a review of the nursing curriculum must be done to improve this finding with the expected further increase in life expectancy in Ghana. Based on these results, it is recommended to make health and social care services available, accessible, and affordable to older adults in slums as this can further improve their QoL.

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