Aging in Place within Elderly People in the Southwest Iran

Iran and its aged society are facing some issues that significantly impact the current social structures in Iran and will continue to do so in the future. If such issues are ignored, Iranian society will be faced with the consequences of having problems among the aged population and their growing as elderly with negative impacts on communal relations, discrimination, and unjust distribution of resources based on a gender basis that will affect the aging in place (AiP) and growing as an elderly. The present study aims to investigate the AiP within aged people and modifying role of the gender variables within it. This study describes the current AiP of the aged people in Ahwaz city in the southwest Iran from a gender perspective. Individual demographic inquiries were used, i.e. socioeconomic status, gender, ethnicity, and health status. The population available for the study was citizens 60 years of age and older (N=51594) in Ahwaz city, the provincial capital of Khuzistan in the southwest Iran. Sampling method was cluster-ratio based on municipal zones, ethnicity, and gender. The sample size was 382 (195 male and 187 female) according to the Cochran formula and adapted to Morgan’s table. The data were analysed by descriptive statistics, F-test and geographical information system. The reliability of the AiP examined by Cronbach’s alpha was 0.84. Descriptive findings indicated the economically poor situation of the aged samples especially aged women, and their health status was moderated by low quality of nutrition and high prevalence of chronic conditions, for example. Arabs, Persian and Lor received low mean score of 59.41, (SD= 7.332), 58.09 (SD= 11.963), and 57.02, (SD= 7.963) respectively in the health status. The results showed AiP characteristics are poor and discrimination was especially significantly prominent among elderly females. Multiple regression analysis and its assumptions were carried out and the predictor ethnicity and gender were found to modify AiP at the first step. The GLM reported gender-ethnic discrimination that directly affected AiP of aged samples and high prevalent amongst elderly females as well. The current urban environment, in the southwest Iran, seems is unable to meet healthy needs of aged people. It needs to adjust upon gender and other relevant characteristics to monitor equality of outcomes for aged and minorities. The future research needs to focus on effect of ethnicity and gender-related issues on AiP, especially in developing countries like Iran.