Psychosocial determinants of quality of life among Kenyan families

Abstract

The importance of Quality of Life studies cannot be overestimated. Virtually every government and development sector would be interested in the impact of its initiatives on people’s standard of living and essentially their Quality of Life. Results of such studies can be used to enable people, as far as possible, achieve their goals and choose their ideal lifestyle. Indeed the welfare of African families is a major concern in the recent decade. In adapting and surviving tough economic challenges to have a resiliency culture, one needs to recognizing strengths that keeps African communities satisfied and together. One way to recognize these strengths was to investigate the psychosocial determinants of Quality of life among Kenyans. The paper was to establish weather psychosocial related factors (emotional status, marital status, spiritual status, number of children, health status, educational level and income level) contribute to the satisfaction of quality of life among Kenyans. The information was gathered from all the eight (8) Kenyan provinces including urban and rural households. A total of 5179 people were interviewed using a survey questionnaire and also use of focus group discussions. The results indicated the majority of the respondents who were married, had more children, had more income, had high education level, were in good health status, who were more spiritual, indicated more satisfaction with their quality of life. Therefore the study concludes that psychosocial factors are part and parcel in achieving happiness in one’s life and a firmer foundation upon which to built intervention strategies.