Factors Influencing Successful Aging in Pichit Province

Abstract

This cross-sectional survey research aimed to study the proportion of successful aging and the factors influencing successful aging in Pichit province. The samples were 340 elderly aged 60 years and over selected by multistage random sampling. The data were collected by self-administered questionnaires from 1-30 April 2017, and analyzed by frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, chi-square test and multiple regression analysis. The results showed that 40.0% of the elderly had successful aging and 60.0% had ordinary aging. The factors which significantly associated with successful aging were accessibility to health services, monthly income of the elderly, and social support (p<0.05). Those el­derly with high accessibility to health services had 15 times more chance of successful aging than those with low accessibility. The elderly who had high social support were 5.6 times more chance of successful than those with less social support. Finally, the elderly with monthly income more than baht 5,000 had 2.8 times more chance of successful than those with monthly income of baht 500–5,000. The study suggests that health care center which responsible for the elderly people in Pichit province should promote their accessibility to health service, enhance the social support and increase the social welfare or monthly income. This would result in self-care and self-reliance among the elderly leading to successful aging.