Title: Analysis of quality of life and rural development: evidence from some Ghanaian rural communities

Authors: Fanny Adams Quagrainie; Edward Kweku Enim

Addresses: Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration, GIMPA Business School, P.O. Box AH 50, Legon-Achimota Road, Achimota Accra, Ghana ' Coast for Christ Ministries, P.O. Box 378, Winneba, Ghana

Abstract: This paper examines the indicators that rural people use to define their quality of life, how relevant the integrated quality of life theory is to the Ghanaian rural setting and the effect of rural development projects on the quality of life of beneficiaries. Using a mixed method and a sample of 354, data was collected via interviews and questionnaire. Both thematic analysis and paired sample t-test were used to analyse the data. Although the empirical results were generally consistent with the theoretical predictions, there were differences in how satisfaction of life and spirituality were defined by respondents. Existential quality of life was found to be the most important aspect of the integrative quality of life among the respondents. Additionally rural development projects were found to improve the quality of life of respondents. It was recommended that these indicators are further researched into.

Keywords: integrative quality of life; existential quality of life; objective quality of life; subjective quality of life; rural development; sustainable development; Ghana; sustainability; rural communities; spirituality; satisfaction.

DOI: 10.1504/AJESD.2015.072701

African Journal of Economic and Sustainable Development, 2015 Vol.4 No.4, pp.328 - 340

Received: 06 Apr 2015
Accepted: 06 Apr 2015
Published online: 25 Oct 2015 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article