decrease simultaneously (44). In a

decrease simultaneously (44). In a study by Callaghan (43), the oldest age group did not report higher self-care ability, even when practicing a more healthy behaviour and having higher self-efficacy beliefs. Regarding other demographic characteristics, the analyses also showed that those with higher educational background had higher self- care ability in the present study. This result is not in line with the study by Klainin and Ouannapiruk (7), who found that the relationship between educational back- ground and self-care ability was limited. A possible explanation to the different results may be that they reported results from studies performed in a cultural context quite different from Scandinavian cultures. Our study also revealed that those who lived in their original dwellings had higher self-care ability, and an explanation to this may be that older people in Norway often relocate into sheltered dwellings when their health declines. Nev- ertheless, these demographic factors did not emerge as predictors in the regression analysis.
The comparisons of groups who had higher and lower self-care ability with ten health-related variables or scales (Table 3) showed significant differences between the groups regarding all these factors. Higher self-care ability was related to perceived good health and satisfaction with life, and this result is in line with several other studies (6, 45). The possibility to feel healthy is dependent on older persons’ ability to adjust and compensate to their actual situation (46), which may be one explanation for the positive results found in the current study. Furthermore, a positive expectation about ageing, in general, has been found to be an important influencing factor for maintain- ing good physical and mental health (47). In line with the study by So ̈ derhamn et al. (6), higher self-care ability and being active were also significantly related in our study, and a great deal of the respondents performed regularly physical activities, often in company with others. Physical activity has been found to be positive associated with health status in older community-living people (8). To have the ability to perform daily activities, moving around and perceiving good health were issues that older people, in a Norwegian study (48), were given high importance. Thus, being physically active seems to be an important factor for performing self-care actions.
Although more than half of the study sample reported not having any chronic disease or handicap, such condi- tions were evidently more present among those with lower self-care ability. As people live longer, the amount of older persons burdened with chronic health conditions like diabetes, heart and vascular diseases and arthritis will increase (49). Chronic diseases may cause many limita- tions in social as well as in physical and mental functioning in older people and may result in dependence on other persons for the daily living (50). Although the greatest part of the sample in our study perceived good satisfaction in life, reduced self-care ability was closely related to an
increased feeling of helplessness and increased reception of family help. A study by Dale et al. (10) also showed that older people living in rural areas had more family help than formal home care, and one explanation may be that older people living in rural areas in Norway often live in their original homes. A report from the Norwegian Board of Health (51) concludes that those living in original dwellings tend to be underserved by formal home services and therefore represent a risk group. Nevertheless, the individuals living in original homes in our study reported high self-care ability. This result may reflect the fact that this study group, in general, perceived good health and high self-care ability.
Having high self-care ability includes the possibility for an autonomous and independent living. Beswick et al. (52) suggest that being independent, in the sense of per- sonal growth and physical and psycho-social functioning, is one of the major constituents of healthy ageing, in addition to life satisfaction. A fundamental assumption of self-care ability and self-care agency is that of being able to independently care for oneself – by oneself (22). Further, the fear of being a burden and loss of autonomy and independence are reported to be of major concern for older people (53).
An essential topic regarding self-care ability is that of nutrition (21), and this association was supported in this study, because those being at nutritional risk were found to have lower self-care ability. It can be claimed that nutrition and self-care ability are closely related, because the nutritional screening results in this study showed high association with self-care ability. This circumstance was also highlighted when using the nutritional screening scores in the logistic regression analysis. This result can be compared with another study (19), where lower self-care ability was found to predict risk for undernutrition in older patients. Furthermore, the regression analysis revealed that those who had insufficient capacity for food prepa- ration had lower self-care ability. The prevalence of older people at nutritional risk has been found to be lower among community-living people (54, 55) compared to older hospital patients (56–58). One explanation may be that the hospital group simply had poorer health condition and decreased appetite. Another explanation may be that the home-living situation includes possibilities for choos- ing and preparing own food in the persons’ own ways and in their daily life surroundings. However, being old and at risk for undernutrition highlight difficulties to manage daily life, especially among single living persons (55).
Declined mental health was associated with lower self- care ability, and this result underlines the mutual rela- tionship between mental health and the capacity for independently managing daily living in later life. It is well known that mental problems like depression and anxiety are predicted to be a major problem among older people because of factors like serious illnesses and several losses

ผลลัพธ์ (ไทย) 3:

ลดพร้อมกัน ( 44 ) ในการศึกษาโดยแฮน ( 43 ) , กลุ่มอายุเก่าแก่ไม่รายงานความสามารถในการดูแลตนเองเพิ่มขึ้น แม้ว่าการฝึกพฤติกรรมสุขภาพมากขึ้นและมีความสามารถสูง ความเชื่อ เกี่ยวกับลักษณะของประชากรอื่น ๆ การวิเคราะห์ยังพบว่าผู้ที่มีการศึกษาสูง มีความสามารถในการดูแลตนเองหลังสูงกว่าในการศึกษาปัจจุบันผลที่ได้นี้ไม่สอดคล้องกับการศึกษา โดย klainin และ ouannapiruk ( 7 ) ที่พบว่า ความสัมพันธ์ระหว่างความสามารถในการดูแลตนเองและการศึกษา พื้นหลังมีจำกัด คำอธิบายที่เป็นไปได้กับผลที่แตกต่างกันอาจจะรายงานผลจากการศึกษาดำเนินการในบริบททางวัฒนธรรมที่แตกต่างจากวัฒนธรรมที่สแกนดิเนเวีย