An analysis on constituent component of quality of life in Nowshahr

Enhancement of quality of life has remained either explicit or implicit goal of public policy in almost all societies for several centuries.Quality of life has been the focus of numerous studies but a universally acceptable definition has not been arrived yet. To some, it may mean how happy they are and to others, it may mean the level of economic status, education, health or security. Many researchers agree that the concept of quality of life is too broad to describe. It is impossible to develop one universally acceptable definition of the concept. The purposes of present study are identification of main constituent components and measurement of quality of life for residents living in the study area. The study has been conducted in Nowshahr city in Mazandaran province in the north of Iran. Nowshahr is one of the small cities of Iran that in 2012 year had almost 45000 residents. Methodology of the research is mixed-method. In order to collect the data, we useddocumentary and surveys methods and for analysis of data researchers used quantitative – analytical approach and correlation analysis. The results of the study indicated that the objective dimension constituent components of quality of life in the study area had six factors or components including social interactions, economic conditions, availability of facilities and services, physical condition, environmental safety and participation in affairs. These factors in total, have explained 53/2 percent of the total variance in the dependent variable in the objective quality of life explained. In the subjective dimension, main constituent component of quality of life in the city Nowshahr represented five factors, in order of importance, including feelings of worth, sense of place, subjective well-being, social networks and sense of security. These factors in total explained 60/98 percent of the variance in the dependent variable. Moreover, the data analyzed using cumulative indicators of quality of life showed that in objective dimension the scores obtained was 2/726 and in the subjective dimension scores obtained was equal to 2/389, which are lower than the median of the common means of μ= 3. Accordingly, both the objective and subjective dimension of resident's quality of life are not adequate conditions in city of Nowshahr especially in subjective dimension.