Publication: A qualitative study on active ageing and development of active ageing questionnaire among the elderly in Malaysia
Date
2018-04
Authors
Esa, Wafaak
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Abstract
Background: Active ageing is a conceptual understanding of ageing well and may affect
on the quality of life. Therefore accurate measurement of active ageing is important in
health of the elderly.
Objective: To explore the perception, determinants, and to develop and validate an
instrument measuring level of active ageing among the elderly in Malaysia.
Method:
Phase 1: A qualitative study using phenomenology tradition was carried out in all five
regions of Malaysia. A purposive sampling was applied among the members of
Persatuan Pesara Kerajaan and Kelab Warga Emas. Data was collected through nine
focus group discussions and 19 in-depth interviews. Thematic analysis was carried out.
Phase 2: Result from phase 1 informed development of the scale, Active Ageing
Questionnaire. Three domains with 82 items were developed and went through content
and face validation. Construct, criterion validation and reliability test were carried out on
302 elderly. Convenient sampling was applied among members of same organisations.
World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment Brief Version in Malay language
was also used for criterion validation. Content validation index, face validation index,
exploratory factor analysis, Pearson Correlation and Cronbach’s Alpha analysis were
carried out.
Results: The participants were mixture of multiracial, gender and between 60 to 80 years
old. Three emergent themes of active ageing were independence, participation and
positive emotion effect. In Malaysia, active ageing is a process of doing activity
independently, as a continuity and optimisation of life through participation which bring
benefit to the self, family and community, and resulting in a positive emotional effect to
life. These informed the Active Ageing Questionnaire development which showed an
excellent content and face validation index. Three factors, independent, participation and
satisfaction, were extracted with 20 items each. There were significant positive strong
correlations between Active Ageing Questionnaire score and World Health Organization
Quality of Life Assessment Brief Version score. The Cronbach’s Alpha value was 0.96
for overall value; for independence, participation and satisfaction domain these were
0.95, 0.93 and 0.92 respectively.
Conclusion: The conceptual active ageing understanding among Malaysia’s elderly is
multidimensional and has similarities to the model by World Health Organization. There
is a complex interaction between body and environment. The Active Ageing
Questionnaire showed a good validity and reliability for measuring active ageing level
among elderly in Malaysia. This will allow measurement of active ageing to inform
policy development.
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Keywords
Healthy ageing