A study of the Life Quality of Students at a University of Medical Sciences in the East of Iran

Quality of life is an important index in assessing the personal health, making decisions and passing judgments on the general health status of the society, and finding major problems people have in different arenas of life. This study aimed at determining the quality of life among students of Shahroud University of Medical Sciences. This applied cross-sectional research was carried out in 2011. The data collection instrument was the 26-item quality of life questionnaire by WHO. The collected data were analyzed through chi square test with SPSS. The average age of the participants was 20.8±2.3. 79.2% of the participants were females. 22.7% of the participants were indigenous students. In studying the students’ quality of life in the four areas of health, physical health (14.2±2.4) showed the highest score, followed by social health (14.1±3.2), mental health (13.1±2.8) and environmental health (12.7±2.5). No significant relationships were observed between quality of life and gender, level of education, marital status, place of residence, economic activities, the size of family, birth order, and the life status (dead/alive) of the parents (P>0.05). However the relationships between quality of life and being indigenous (P=0.049), family’s income (P=0.02) and main field of study (P=0.02) were significant. In addition to admitting indigenous students, setting up counseling clinics in campuses and dormitories and offering training and explanatory courses on living in university environments, improving the facilities and sports and recreational programs can promote the health level of students and enhance their life quality.