Determinants of quality of life and life satisfaction of urban residents

Background: The assessment of quality of life and life satisfaction of Rzeszow residents aged 18-75 using a WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire which consists of 26 questions and analyses 4 basic domains of quality of life: physical, psychological, social relationships, functional environment of the respondent and a global quality of life and self-assessment of one’s health. Methods: The survey was conducted on a representative sample of 618 adult residents of Rzeszow (Poland; population: 195 031). Respondents were randomly selected through systematic random sampling with latent layer division from the population register shared by Rzeszow Municipal Office. Results: Good scale score reliability for the entire tool was confirmed in the study population: the Cronbach's α compatibility coefficient for sub-tests (four domains) between 0.746-0.848, and for the entire test - 0.921. The results indicate that gender does not differentiate the quality of life of Rzeszow residents. However, the quality of life is affected by age, education, financial situation, and body mass index. Conclusions: I found that the WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire is an interesting research tool when analysing the quality of life and may be useful in comparative studies of the quality of life of the residents of cities/towns, counties or regions.