Physical and emotional well-being of rural elder adults and its relationship with mistreatment

Objective To examine the physical and emotional well-being of elder adults in rural areas and to explore the association of elder mistreatment with physical and emotional well-being for making preventive measures.Methods Subjects aged 60 years or older were selected with cluster sampling from 17 villages in Macheng city of Hubei province.Results The mean total score of World Health Organization-Five Well-Being Index(WHO-5) was 13.35±4.78 for the rural elder people.The prevalence of poor physical and emotional well-being for the rural elder people was 43.50%(870/2 000).The WHO-5 scores for the elderly with mistreatment,physical mistreatment,emotional mistreatment,caregiver neglect,and financial mistreatment were 11.39±4.68,11.29±4.32,10.65±4.43,11.94±4.89,and 10.08±4.08,respectively,lower than those of without mistreatment(14.45±4.47),physical mistreatment(13.45±4.78),emotional mistreatment(14.36±4.50),caregiver neglect(13.61±4.71),and financial mistreatment(13.41±4.77).General logistic analysis showed that the score of physical and emotional well-being for men was 0.82 higher than that of women after adjusting for other factors.The score of physical and emotional well-being for people aged 60-69 years was 1.03 higher than that of people aged 80 years or more.The score of physical and emotional well-being for illiterate people was 0.59 lower than the people having 6 years or more of school education.The score of physical and emotional well-being for people having chronic diseases was 0.91 lower than the people who had not.The score of physical and emotional well-being for people who had depression was 4.45 lower than the people who had not.The score of physical and emotional well-being for people with emotional mistreatment was 2.00 lower than those without emotional mistreatment.Conclusion The overall physical and emotional well-being of elder adults in rural areas of Macheng city was poor.Emotional mistreatment is an important factor to the physial and emotional well-being of elder adults.