AUTHOR=Guastafierro Erika , Toppo Claudia , Corso Barbara , Romano Rosa , Campioni Rino , Brambilla Ersilia , Facchini Carla , Bordoni Sara , Leonardi Matilde 

TITLE=Social Network and Environment as Determinants of Disability and Quality of Life in Aging: Results From an Italian Study

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Medicine

VOLUME=Volume 9 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/medicine/articles/10.3389/fmed.2022.854779

DOI=10.3389/fmed.2022.854779

ISSN=2296-858X

ABSTRACT=Background: The increase in life expectancy is leading to worldwide increase in chronic diseases and disability, with significant concern about their management and long-term care. Investigating the aging process using a bio-psychosocial perspective is essential to understand how to reduce disability and improve Quality of Life of aging people. The aim of this paper is to explore the role of social networks and built environment as predictors of disability and Quality of Life in the Italian population over 50 years old.   
Materials and methods: The research protocol is composed by several tools: World Health Organization Disability Assessment Scale 2.0 (WHODAS 2.0), World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment in Aging (WHOQOL-AGE), Social Network Index (SNI), the Courage Built Environment Questionnaire Self-Reported (CBE-SR), and collection of socio-demographic information and information on health systems coverage. 
Results: 431 people were administered the protocol, of which 209 males and 222 females, with a mean age of 70 years. The majority of the sample reported level of instruction of middle or high school diploma and the 60.6% of the sample declared to have a good health status. The results showed that people with a good social support network have higher levels of functioning and quality of life. As regards the built environment, it did not result significantly predictive for either disability or quality of life.
Conclusions: These results provide elements to dialogue with institutions and policymakers. This is fundamental to develop active policies aimed at the implementation of services and systems to promote healthy aging.