Prevalence of Self-Neglect and Associated Factors Among Disability Elderly in China

Abstract

Purpose: To assess the prevalence of self-neglect and associated factors among disability elderly(age≥65 years) in China.Patients and methods: Patients aged 65 years or above were enrolled from two communities in Shenyang,China. A convenience sample of 230 disability elderly responded to the questionnaire survey. The data were collected by a series of questionnaires consisting of socio-economic and demographic characteristics, Barthel Index(BI), Elder Self-Neglect Assessment(ESNA), Geriatric Depression Scale-Short Form(GDS-SF), Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support(MSPSS), and Mini-Mental State Examination(MMSE). Kruskal-Wallis test or Mann-Whitney U test was used to examine the differences of self-neglect among different demographic characteristics as appropriate.Multiple linear regression model was performed to identify which factors were independent predictors of self-neglect.Results: An overall self-neglect rate of 86.0% was registered. The study reveals that disability elderly's self-neglect correlates positively with the degree of disability and depressive symptoms. On the contrary, monthly income and perceived social support were negatively associated with self-neglect.Conclusion: In this study, the prevalence of self-neglect is high among disability elderly. Lower monthly income, decreased physical functioning, depressive symptoms, and poor perceived social support were contributing factors for self-neglect among disability elderly.

Mediating Role of Psychological Capital in the Relationship Between Social Support and Self-Neglect Among Chinese Community-Dwelling Older Adults

“…In this study, social support demonstrated a negative association with self-neglect, which is consistent with previous studies. A prior Chinese study reported that older adults with disabilities who received more social support had a lower level of self-neglect and a more stable psychological state ( Dong and Sun, 2021 ). A qualitative study revealed nurses’ perception that limited social support exacerbates the severity of self-neglect ( Wu et al, 2020 ).…”

Household factors and prevalence of squalor: meta-analysis and meta-regression

“…Studies found that SN was linked to higher levels of deprivation [26,33]. Furthermore, income and SN have also been shown to be related, with SN more common when income is lower [27,[34][35][36], though other SN studies contradict these findings [37,38]. Living alone was identified as being significantly more common in individuals who SN [27,39,40] and this was also found in the related condition of HD [28,41,42].…”