Depression Conditions of the Elderly Living in Nursing Homes and the Factors Affecting Them

Abstract

Aim: In this article, it was aimed to determine the cognitive and mental status of elderly people staying in a nursing home and the factors affecting them. Material and Methods: The study was conducted with 75 elderly individuals living in a nursing home. Personal Information Form, Geriatric Depression Scale and Mini Mental Assessment Test and retrospective blood findings of the elderly were used to collect the data. The data were evaluated with SPSS 26.0 programme. Depending on the non-normal distribution of the data; non-parametric tests were used in the evaluation of the data. Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests were used to compare independent variables. Multiple regression analysis was also used. Results: It was determined that 21.3% of the elderly were moderately depressed and 38.7% had abnormal mini mental assessment. The difference between gender (p=0.023), marital status (p=0.001) and educational level (p=0.001) and the mean total score of MMDT was statistically significant. The difference between the status of having sleep problems (p=0.002) and the mean total score of GDS was statistically significant. The difference between urinary incontinence status (p=0.001) and exercise status (p=0.006) and MMDT total mean scores was statistically significant. Conclusion: Approximately one third of the participants were depressed and had poor cognitive status. Depression was associated with female and low educational status and sleep problems, whereas mental status was associated with gender, marital status, educational status.