Journal of

Introduction and Purpose: Life satisfaction is the individual’s attitude towards life and is closely related to the welfare and prosperity. The aim of this study is to compare Life satisfaction of elderly between nursing home residents and seniors who living in their own homes in Isfahan .

Material and Methods : The population of this analytic – cross sectional study was elderly over 60 years old who live in fourteen area of Isfahan as well as seniors living in the Sadeghieh nursing home . Participants in this study were 300 elderly people in which 102 samples were from nursing home residents and 198 samples were from seniors living in their own homes. The elderly living in the community were selected through cluster sampling method and elderly from nursing home residents were selected via convenience sampling method. Data were collected using LSI-Z life satisfaction questionnaire and were analyzed by statistical parametric test such as chi-square and independent t-test.

Findings : life satisfaction mean score of elderly group inhabited in their own homes reported at 45.9 ± 19.8 and was significantly higher than nursing home residents ( p= 0.007 ) .

Conclusion: Life satisfaction of elderly in nursing home is not satisfactory. Therefore, what should be considered by the relevant authorities is not only to prolong life but, it is also very important to provide comfort, good physical, social and psychological health for the remaining years of aging.