This is a cross-sectional study that covers a representative sample of 1,106 adults aged 60 and over who live in the community and who reside in Spain. The survey collected information on quality of life through a face-to-face interview in which the components of quality of life were requested in a free format, as well as the completion of two measures of quality of life, the EQ-5D and the personal well-being index. The most important dimensions of quality of life, according to the participants in this study, were health, family and finances. Depression was the main determinant of both quality of life indices, while functional independence and social support specifically influenced health-related quality of life and overall quality of life, respectively.
Based on the perspective of older adults and on statistical analysis, this work emphasizes the importance of health, family and social support as areas of special interest in aging. There was a discrepancy when comparing findings related to the importance of the financial situation. The results also support that global and health-related quality of life share some common determinants, but with different weighting when it comes to functional independence and social support. Quality of life is a broad concept that encompasses a series of different dimensions (by which we understand the elements or factors that form a complete entity), which can be measured through a set of sub-dimensions with an associated number of indicators for each).
It encompasses both objective factors (for example, mastery of material resources, health, employment situation, living conditions, and many others) and one's subjective perception of them. The latter depends to a large extent on the priorities and needs of citizens. Measuring the quality of life of different populations and countries in a comparable way is a complex task, and for this purpose a scoreboard that covers a series of relevant dimensions is needed. Among the main determinants of quality of life, there is general agreement on the key role of health (Fernández Ballesteros et al.
Combining standardized and free-form approaches by comparing the main components of quality of life and the identified determinants could provide an inclusive view of research on aging. Despite the key role of health as a determinant of quality of life, older adults do not always rank it first (Bowling 1995; Xavier et al. The number of medical conditions emerged as a determining factor in the overall and health-related quality of life of older adults, a finding that points in a direction similar to that of previous research, such as the study carried out by Smith et al. Although the first objective was to search for the main dimensions of quality of life according to the participants' point of view, the second objective was to evaluate their determinants based on regression analysis.
The objectives of this study are to detect the main components of the global quality of life (CV) of older adults living in communities from their own perspective and to identify the determinants of global and health-related quality of life in the same population. Knowledge about the determinants at the intersection of both constructs (depression and medical conditions), those specific to global quality of life (social support and sense of coherence) and those of health-related quality of life (functional independence), has the potential to inform health and social care policies on priority aspects of the well-being of older adults. On the other hand, to identify the determinants of global and health-related quality of life measures, two multiple linear regression models were applied.
