Tehran University of Medical Sciences Iranian Journal of Public Health 2251-6085 47 12 2018 12 01 1899 1905 Jafar Sadegh TABRIZI Tabriz Health Service Management Research Centre, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran AND Dept. of Health Services Management, School of Health Service Management and Medical Informatics, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran AND Iranian Center of Excellence in Health Management, School of Management and Medical Informatics, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran Mehrdad Amir BEHGHADAMI Dept. of Health Services Management, School of Health Service Management and Medical Informatics, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran AND Iranian Center of Excellence in Health Management, School of Management and Medical Informatics, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran AND Student Research Committee (SRC), Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran Mohammad SAADATI Road Traffic Injury Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran 2018 12 05 Background: Self-care ability was considered as a mechanism to improve the quality of life and reducing the high costs of medical services for elder people. Iran is experiencing increased elder people and healthy aging is one of the challenges. This study aimed to investigate self-care ability of elder people in Shahid Chamran and Dr. Shadpour health complexes, Tabriz- Iran. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study done in 2015."The Self-care Ability Scale for the Elderly (SASE)" valid and reliable questionnaire (Persian version) was used for data collection. Totally, 220 samples were selected using G-Power 3.1.5 software. Sampling was conducted through systematic random method. Data were analyzed using SPSS 21 software. Descriptive statistics and independent t-test, one-way ANOVA, Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis test and Kolmogorov-Smirnov test were used. Results: The mean of self-care ability in elder people was calculated as 56.69± 15.07 (out of 100). 96.8% of participating elderlies, had poor self-care ability. Significant relations were found between elder people self-care ability and their educational level, life status, employment status, and marital status (P<0.05). However, gender, income source, and insurance status had no relations with self-care ability of the elder people (P>0.05). Conclusion: Self-care ability of elder people in Tabriz was at weak level. Regarding, health providers must employ the programs to promote older people self-care ability including improving self-esteem, receiving family help, improved nutrition and mental health improving elderly's quality of life.   https://ijph.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijph/article/view/15518 https://ijph.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijph/article/download/15518/6232