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Underlying dimensions and predictors of elderly happiness
an exploratory study of Rumah Seri Kenangan residents in West Malaysia
International Islamic University Malaysia
Kulliyah of Education, International Islamic University Malaysia
This study was conducted with manifold objectives, i.e. to explore the extent of happiness experienced by the residents of Rumah Seri Kenangan (RSK) in Peninsular Malaysia, extract the underlying factors of elderly happiness, identify statistically significant predictors of elderly happiness from among the extracted factors, examine the differences between Muslim and non-Muslim residents in regard to the extracted happiness factors, and finally, establish the psychometric properties of the elderly happiness scale used in the study. The respondents comprised 323 seniors from nine RSKs in Peninsular Malaysia and the instrument used was an elderly happiness scale with 62 items rated on a 6-point Likert-type categories. The scale was developed based on extant literature and a focus group discussion involving eight elderly residents of RSK Cheras, and content validated by five experts in the fields of Social Psychology, Research Methodology, Assessment, and Applied Statistics. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Principal Axis Factoring (PAF), independent samples t-tests, and multiple linear regression (MRA). The results indicated that a majority of the seniors reported being happy (70.9%) and satisfied (69.4%) with their life and present condition at the RSKs. More than half (54.2%) expressed no intention to leave the home. The PAF procedures extracted eight underlying factors of elderly happiness - which consisted of spiritual well-being, physical well-being, social well-being, contact with nature, quality care, choice, autonomy and empowerment, recreation and entertainment - with a variance explained of 69.3%. However, the eighth dimension, i.e. Entertainment, could not be validated as its average variance extracted (AVE) fell below 0.5. Thus, the PAF was revised with Entertainment removed from the scale. The revised PAF produced a construct valid elderly happiness scale with seven underlying factors and AVE coefficients ranging between .62 (social well-being) and .84 (contact with nature). All factors' discriminant validity indexes were also below their respective AVEs. The MRA procedures indicated that social well-being, recreation, and quality care significantly predicted the happiness of the elderly RSK residents, with social well-being being the strongest predictor. The t-test results produced no significant differences between Muslim and non-Muslim residents in all of the dimensions examined, except for spiritual well-being where Muslim seniors reported a higher mean score than non-Muslim seniors. However, the difference was only moderate at Cohen's d of 0.53. Given the findings, the study made six important recommendations that the RSKs may consider in order to improve the happiness and subjective well-being of the residents. These include conducting activities that promote greater social well-being among the residents, providing high quality physical health care, integrating recreational activities into the residents' schedule, organizing spiritually fulfilling religion-oriented events or activities, providing geriatric counseling services, and providing personal assistants to improve the mobility of the residents.
Thesis (Ph.D)--International Islamic University Malaysia, 2016.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 182-194).