Physical Care Domains among Institutionalized Elders in Sri Lanka: a Qualitative Study

Abstract

Background: “Elderly” has been defined as a chronological age 65 years old or older. Presently the population of people aged 60 years and above is increasing rapidly in the world. Residential care or personal care homes offer personalized service to small groups of elders. The quality of life of the institutionalized elders depend on quality of physical care they received. Objectives: Identification of the physical care domains among institutionalized elders in Sri Lanka. Methodology: Phenomenological study design was used to conduct the study. In-depth interviews (IDI) were conducted by the investigator in order to obtain the perceptions of physical care received by elders at the elderly homes after obtaining ethical approval from the Ethical Review Committee of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka. Participants were recruited by convenient sampling technique at all the elderly homes in Galle Municipal area. Institutionalized elders (n=50) in Galle municipal area were recruited by convenient sampling method. Informed consent was obtained from the participants before starting the data collection. IDIs were transcribed verbatim. Data analysis was done manually using thematic analysis on the same day of the data collection. Results and conclusions: Three domains of physical care were identified; care for generalized body pain; care for visual and hearing impairments and care for chronic disease conditions. There are three domains to address when providing physical care in order to improve the quality of life among institutionalized elders in Sri Lanka.