Health-related quality of life of a very special population: monks of Holy Mountain Athos, Greece

Purpose The investigation of Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) of Orthodox Christian monks who live at the Holy Mount Athos in Greece, and its correlation with demographic characteristics and Sense of Coherence (SOC-13). Methods A cross-sectional study was designed. The seven monasteries and fi...

Ausführliche Beschreibung

Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Veröffentlicht in:Quality of life research 2017-11, Vol.26 (11), p.3169-3175
Hauptverfasser: Merakou, K., Kyklou, E., Antoniadou, E., Theodoridis, D., Doufexis, E., Barbouni, A.
Format: Artikel
Sprache:eng
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:Volltext
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:Purpose The investigation of Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) of Orthodox Christian monks who live at the Holy Mount Athos in Greece, and its correlation with demographic characteristics and Sense of Coherence (SOC-13). Methods A cross-sectional study was designed. The seven monasteries and five scetes with the largest number of monk population were invited to participate. Two monasteries and 1 scete gave their permission for the study. The final monks sample was formed by 166 monks from 215 who participated to the study. HRQOL was assessed using the SF-12 and Sense of Coherence the SOC-13 scales that were completed by monks from May to August 2012. Multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to explore the association of the HRQOL subscales with the demographics and SOC-13. Results The mean age was 45.5 ± 13.0 years; 83.7% lived in communal monasteries, and the mean number of years in monasticism was 18.4 ± 12.1. The mean value of their Physical Component Summary (PCS) score was 47.3 ± 5.3, which is lower than in the general Greek men population, while their Mental Component Summary (MCS) score was 56.4 ± 5.8, which is higher than in the general Greek men population. The mean value of SOC-13 was 65.7 ± 6.5. Positive association for PCS appeared for place of living (β = 5.43, SE = 1.27, p < 0.001) and negative association for age (β = –0.16, SE = 0.03, p < 0.001) while for MCS for number of years in monasticism (β = 0.07, SE = 0.06, p = 0.023) and sense of coherence (β = 0.47, SE = 0.06, p < 0.001). Conclusions The results indicated that monks had better mental health but worse physical health compared to the general Greek male population. More studies are required to validate the above findings.
ISSN:0962-9343
1573-2649
DOI:10.1007/s11136-017-1622-5