Malikova, Aigerim2024-06-252024-06-252024-04-25Malikova, A. (2024). Factors associated with attitudes towards successful aging in middle-aged and older adults in Kazakhstan: A cross-sectional study. Nazarbayev University School of Medicinehttp://nur.nu.edu.kz/handle/123456789/8003Background: Successful aging is the concept which refers to the ability of an individual to retain a high degree of physical, mental, and social well-being as one ages preferably without the presence of chronic illnesses or other age-related challenges. Attitudes towards aging are a comprehensive personal view of the experience of aging throughout the lifetime, which can be influenced by various factors, such as the levels of health, self-sufficiency, social, physical, psychological and demographic factors. The aim of our study was to identify the factors associated with attitudes towards successful aging among middle-aged and older adults in Kazakhstan by determination of the attitudes towards successful aging and identification of the socio-demographic and health-related factors associated with attitudes towards successful aging among middle-aged and older adults in Kazakhstan. Methods: This study was a quantitative cross-sectional study which involved an online survey targeting middle-aged adults (from 40 to 64) and older seniors (from 65 to 79) with a sample size of 70. The questionnaire was built in Qualtrics survey platform, and the link was disseminated through purposive and convenience sampling methods via social media networks (WhatsApp, Telegram, VK, Instagram). The survey covered socio-demographic information, a 12-item short form of attitudes towards aging questionnaire and health and leisure-time activities questions. The results of the study were obtained through the univariate and bivariate analyses on STATA 18 statistical software. Results: It was found that 27.14% of participants were in the category of 40-49 years, 32.86% in the age group of 50-59 years, 31.43% were the ones who were in 60-69 age category, while only 8.58% of participants belonged to the 70-79 age category. Most of the participants were females (67.14%) and the majority of participants identified themselves as representatives of Kazakh (69.57%) nationality. The average AAQ-SF score was 47.2 (SD ± 4.9) with the high internal consistency of 0.7728 in accordance with Cronbach's alpha score. The average scores of the AAQ-SF scale for the positive dimensions such as physical change and psychological growth were 15.5 (SD ± 2.4) and 16.5 (SD ± 1.6), respectively. While the score for the negative dimension, psychosocial loss, was 14.7 (SD ± 2.9), slightly lower than the other two positive dimensions. The results showed that gender, financial satisfaction, chronic diseases, physical health and mental health were found to be statistically significantly associated with the Attitudes to aging score. Conclusion: Study findings showed that the possible factors positively associated with attitudes towards successful aging were male gender, satisfactory financial status, absence of chronic diseases, good physical and mental health. Findings of this study may serve as one of the potential effective tools to develop public health strategies and health promotion programs aimed to support older adults in maintaining physical health, mental well-being, social connections, and overall quality of life. Keywords: Successful aging, Attitudes to successful aging, Factors influencing attitudes to aging, Middle-aged adults, Older adults, Cross-sectional studyenType of access: RestrictedMaster's thesis