Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of the intervention by college students on QOL, especially the morale, for the older old living in solitude. Twenty-one community dwellers in rural town (their age ranged from 75 to 92 years old) participated in Study 1. In Study 1, college students helped the participants do farming and keeping their house, had a chat with them and did recreation activities for them as the intervention for improving their QOL. The results showed that the score on PGC morale scale in the post-intervention session was higher than in the pre- intervention session. On the other hand, the intervention did not change the score of IADL. Sixty community dwellers in rural town (their age ranged from 75 to 92 years old) participated in Study 2. To examine a regional difference, IADL and PGC morale scale scores of the participants in Study 1 were compared to those of the older old living in another rural town. The results showed that there was no regional difference on scores of IADL and PGC morale scale, and that the results in Study 1 were not dependent on the peculiarity of participants. From these findings, it is clear that the intervention by college students improves QOL of the older old living in solitude.
