A comparative study of the quality of life of the women between the earthquake affected and non-affected of Nepal.

Research Report.

ABSTRACT: Background Women tend to be vulnerable following natural disasters, such as earthquakes. Two massive earthquakes hit Nepal in April and May 2015 and the quality of life (QOL) of women worsened after them. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze the influence of the earthquakes in Nepal on the QOL of women and to examine the factors influencing their QOL. Method This cross-sectional study analyzed the QOL of women 33 months after the 2015 earthquakes in Nepal. Hundred women of lower socio-economic status aged above 18 years were selected from two areas; namely, the severely hit by the earthquakes (hereinafter Area 1) and not affected (hereinafter Area 2). The brief version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale (WHOQOL-BREF) was used to gather and analyze the data. The QOL was compared between and within the areas in terms of factors influencing the QOL, such as age, marital status, and educational status using descriptive analysis, the unpaired t-test, and Pearson's chi-square. Results All domains of the WHOQOL-BREF and the overall QOL had significantly higher scores in Area 2 than in Area 1 (p < 0.05). The overall QOL and most of the domains had significantly higher scores for the age groups, marital status, and educational status in Area 2 than in Area 1 (p < 0.05).. Within Area 1, women aged above 35 years had significantly lower scores for the overall QOL and the physical and psychological domains (p < 0.05) and the illiterate women significantly.