Abstract
The purpose of this study was to statistically examine the effects of occupational participation, environmental factors and amount of exercise on the health related quality of life (QOL) of community-dwelling elderly. A cross-sectional survey of 105 community-dwelling elderly individuals participating in community activities and others was carried out. Our data were analyzed using structural equation modeling to estimate hypothetical models in accordance with previous studies. As a result, the appropriateness of the final model met the criteria. The standardized coefficients were 0.574 for occupational participation from environmental factors, 0.574 for health related QOL from occupational participation, and 0.312 for health related QOL from amount of exercise, all of which were significant. Therefore, it is clear that the promotion of occupational participation, which is causally related to environmental factors, has a stronger effect on health related QOL of elderly people living in the community than the focus on amount of exercise alone.
