The perceived quality of life by families residing in the Salvadorean coastal zone

Abstract

A family´s welfare acquires importance in terms of the perception of the quality of life that a person, a family, or a community perceives. The SDG 3, related to welfare, is the center of human development. In order to explore life quality in this study, the QLI-Sp scale was used in a sample of 1.810 participants who represent the families residing in the 20 Salvadoran municipalities on the shore of the Pacific Ocean. Surveys were conducted and QuestionPro was the software used for mobile devices. Data was analyzed with SPSS 19. Among the findings there can be mentioned that the quality of life, as perceived by the families living in the coastal zone of El Salvador, is deficient since the intrinsic and extrinsic conditions that facilitate the perception of good health are not overcome for more than 50% of their members. By not meeting their material needs, the structures which sustain poverty such as low wages, people´s occupations, the type of productive activity, the lack of land tenure, the practice of collective activities which help family integration, the lack of safety within the communities, the little access to information and the financial obstacles faced to be able to invest in the economic production limits the perception of a better emotional and psychological well-being, thus reporting a deficiency in the emotional and intrapersonal welfare of people, in their personal plenitude, and in the emotional/ social support. The actions taken for the social protection of vulnerable families demonstrate little coverage and affect the presence of interpersonal welfare.