Assessment of Depression in Elderly. Is Perceived Social Support Related? A Nursing Home Study

Abstract

Geriatric depression is more common in nursing homes and social support is a mechanism that mitigates the stressors of life factors and simultaneously promotes wellness and health. The purpose of the study was to assess the levels of depression and social support among elderly in nursing homes. During the period February 2016-March 2016 170 elderly residents in nursing homes completed the Geriatric Depression Scale-15 (GDS-15) and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS). Statistical analysis was conducted with IBM SPSS Statistics 23. 37, 1% of the sample had depressive symptoms. Depression is statistically correlated with age and it is affected by the years of education (p = 0.003), the number of the children (p = 0.006), whether the elderly person is bedridden or not (p < 0.001), the frequency of visits by family members (p < 0.001) and whether the elderly performs activities outside the nursing home (0.001). Higher GDS score had those who were illiterate (6.41), those with one or no children (6.82 and 6.59 respectively), the bedridden (6.70), people without visits from relatives (7.69) and without activities outside (5.64). Also, social support is affected by the family status (p < 0.001), the number of children (p < 0.001), the frequency of visits by relatives (p < 0.001) and whether the elderly performs activities outside the foundation (p < 0.008). Higher MSPSS score had those who were married (61.60), those who had four children (63.50), people who accept visits from relatives every day (64.58) and people who do activities outside the institution (58.07). The appearance of this increased rate of depression symptoms in this elderly population leads to the need for more aid social support.

Physical activity and fitness are associated with verbal memory, quality of life and depression among nursing home residents: preliminary data of a randomized controlled trial

“…Hence, physical activity could be proposed as a protective factor for reducing the risk of suffering from depression. This result aligns with other studies finding that depression in older people living in nursing homes is correlated, among other factors, with the activities performed outside the nursing home [ 41 ]. Thus, the higher their level of physical activity, the more opportunities could arise for residents to visit personally meaningful places and to interact socially with others.…”

Depression Among Elderly Users of Open and Closed Care Facilities in a Rural Region of Greece: an Important Public Health Issue

“…Prevalence rates vary depending on the diagnostic tool that is used. However, our study population presented a 40.5% prevalence of depressive symptoms, a rate that is expected, compared to the findings of other studies conducted in rural Greece (22,(30)(31)(32)(33)(34). From the participants who had depressive symptoms, only 19.5% were diagnosed with depression by a mental health professional, which confirms the under-diagnosis of the disease.…”

Assessing Prevalence of Depression Among General Population of Selected Rural Community- A Descriptive Survey Design

“…Interestingly, more number of depressive subjects at younger age in our study reflects the "life in conflict" -the Kashmiri people are living since few decades [9]. However, maximum reports have shown an increasing trend in depression with an advancement of age [20,[25][26][27][28][29][30]. The other plausible reason could be due to breakdown of the joint family and the emergence of the nuclear family at younger ages due to reduced family support [2].…”