Background of the study: Aging is a natural process and an inevitable one. Old age is a crucial phase where the physiological, psychological and socio-cultural changes in elderly affect their living pattern and their health status too in terms of their quality of life. Objective of the study: To assess the quality of life among elderly living in old age homes and living with their families in selected areas of Uttarakhand. Materials and Methods: A quantitative research approach with descriptive comparative design was used to assess the QOL (quality of life) among elderly living in old age homes and living with their families. The Population consisted of elderly residing in selected old age homes and community area. The study was conducted at selected old age homes and community area of Uttarakhand. Purposive sampling technique was used to select the 164 subjects from the population, i.e. 82 subjects from respective old age homes and 82 subjects from selected community area. Socio-demographic Proforma, WHO QOL-BREF scale was used to assess the QOL among elderly with the help of structured interview method. Results: It was found that Mean score for QOL with S.D for elderly living in old age homes and living with families was 68.47 ± 10.752 and 97.44 ± 8.564 with “t”-value of 19.08 at 0.01 level of significance. Demographic variables, i.e. gender, marital status, educational status, retirement, physical illness were found to be significantly associated with QOL of elderly living in old age homes and those living with their families. Conclusion: Hence the overall findings suggest that quality of life was good among elderly who were living with their families as compare to those who were living in old age homes.

Keywords: Quality of life; Elderly; Old age homes; Families.