Health Related Quality of Life of Urban and Rural People

The present study examined the Health related quality of life (HRQOL) of men and women living in urban and rural settings. The sample consisted of 400 males and females of 15 to 70 years drawn from Varanasi district. The respondents were given the 26 items WHOQOL- BREF scale, which measures four domains of QOL namely, physical health, psychological states, social relationships and environment. Demographic features of participants were also recorded. The overall QOL of the urban sample was better than that of the rural sample. Urban participants scored significantly higher than the rural in psychological health, social relationships and environment domains of the QOL. However, these differences were linked to gender of the participants. While in the rural setting males had a better QOL, in the urban setting females had a better QOL. Difference in the QOL of males and females was also more pronounced in the rural than urban setting.