Health related quality of life of hospitalized patients

An exploratory, descriptive and cross-sectional study to evaluate health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of hospitalized patients in a public university hospital. The unit has 31 beds and serves patients aged 14 and older, adults and elderly, of both sexes, for clinical and surgical treatment. It was elaborated an instrument for the data referring to sociodemographic characterization and clinical data. The WHOQOL-Bref instrument, abbreviated version, was used to evaluate HRQoL. The sample consisted of 110 individuals. The HRQoL assessment, through the WHOQOL-Bref, indicated that the Social Relations domain had a higher score, with an average of 73.03 ± 14.67, that is, a higher positive impact on HRQoL. The Physical domain had the lowest score, with 57.42 ± 16.74, indicating a greater negative impact on HRQoL. The HRQoL assessment among study participants presented values close to the total mean of the scale, which could indicate reasonable levels of quality of life, overall. The worst evaluation was for the Physical domain, easily understood due to the health condition in which they were. On the other hand, the best evaluation was for the Social Relations domain, comprising an adequate support network to support during the period of hospitalization.