社會組織和倫理觀念的改變，使老人對於安養照護機構的需求遠超過以往。對這些聚居的群體提供完整的健康照顧，是社會對老人的照護任務之一。本研究目的在瞭解自費安養機構老人的人口社會特質、健康狀況及與健康狀況有關的影響因素，期能達成促進健康、提高生活品質的目標。
本研究自四所安養機構1333位合乎選樣標準的老人中隨機抽出150位，以問卷進行面對面訪談，完成訪談者共142位。其中男性、女性約各佔二分之一，平均年齡77.4歲，居民大部份為外省籍老人(88.7%)，教育程度最多的是大專或以上者。研究結果發現大多數老人認為自己的身體、心理及社會功能尚佳，但這些老人平均罹患2.3種長期、慢性的疾病，如高血壓、心臟病、腸胃疾病及糖尿病等;平均每人每天服用8.7顆藥物。也有部分老人自述情緒較差或無法獨力進行家事處理或外出購物等社會性活動。
研究顯示，有八個因素與健康較差的情況有關，如女性、年齡越大、從未就業者、過去從事勞力工作、與室友同住、為了想過清靜的日子或不願勞累家務而進住者、經濟狀況較差、沒有醫療保險者。預測身體功能最重要的變項是:與子女聯繫之頻率及心理狀況;而心理功能的最顯著變項為性別與進住原因;至於社會功能的有力預測變項則為:經濟滿意度、醫療保險、與子女見面頻率、居住狀況等。

The change of society structure and ethics has greatly generated the elderly's demand for nursing homes. Pro-viding comprehensive care to the aged is one of the missions of society. The purpose of this study was to assess the demographic characteristics, the health status, and the health related factors of the institutionalized elderly to pro-mote their health and improve their quality of life.
A sample of 150 elderly was drawn by randam sampling out of 1333 elderly from four self-paid nursing homes for this study. The researcher completed interviews with 142 elderly with structured questionnaires. The elderly being interviewed were 50 % male and 50% female with an average age of 77.4. Most of the elderly were educated higher than college and were mostly ( 88.7% ) from provinces other than Taiwan. The results revealed that most elderly considered their health conditions passable. On average, every elderly person suffered from 2. 3 long-term and chronic diseases, such as hypertension, heart disease, G-I disease, and diabetes. An average of nine tablets were taken by every elderly person per day. Some elderly described their social dysfunctions; for example, unsta-ble emotional status, not being able to do housework independently or going out for shopping.
Eight factors were identified as significantly related to poor health conditions. The eight factors are being female, becoming older, never being hired, previous labor, living with roommates, being institutionalized because of the wish to live alone or not to bother their failies, having worse economic conditions, and having no medical insurance. The most important factors in predicting the elderly's body functions are the frequency of contacts with their children and their mental conditions. Gender and reasons for residing in the institution were the factors that most influence the mental functions. Significant predicting factors for social functions include economic satisfaction, medical insurance, frequency of meeting with children, and living status.