Health-related Quality of Life among University Students: The Role of Demographic Variables

Introduction: Quality of life is seen as a broad concept pertaining to the sense of well-being and satisfaction in life. The physical and mental health of the students directly correlate with the health and future of the society. Aim: The present study aimed to investigate the effect of factors associated with quality of life on health promotion among students at Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive study, 453 students of Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences were selected through stratified random sampling in the academic year 2015-2016. For data collection, a demographic questionnaire and the SF-36 questionnaire were used. Data were analysed through the descriptive statistics (percentage, mean, and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, independent t-test, and ANOVA). Further, the SPSS Statistics 21 Software was utilised for data analysis. Results: The results of the present study showed that the mean and SD of the total score for health-related quality of life of students was measured to be 2.55 +/- 0.40. The results also indicated that quality of life significantly correlated with gender, age, marital status, education, faculty, and residence (p<0.001). Conclusion: Considering the results of the present study and the desire of the students for a better quality of life, there is a necessity to introduce programs in universities to improve the quality of life. Also, more attention should be paid towards students' health and quality of life during their education.