The Influences of Physical Health, Cognitive Symptom and Nutritional Status on the Depression of the Elderly Dwelling in a Big City

PURPOSE: The purposes of this study were to investigate factors related to the depression of the elderly dwelling in a big city, and to explore the influence of physical health, cognitive symptom and nutritional status on the elders' depression. METHODS: After the approval of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) and obtaining the participants' consent form, a face-to-face and private interview was conducted with each participant from May, 2007 to Aug, 2007 by trained graduate level students. A total of 201 elders aged over 65 years participated in the study. The questionnaire consisted of K-GDS, PHQ-15 and Nutritional Screening Initiative (NSI). Collected data were analyzed with the SPSS 13.0 program, which was used for frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, Pearson correlation coefficients, and multiple regression. RESULTS: The major findings of this study were as follows. 1) 28.4% of the subjects belonged to the depression group, 78.1% had one or more diseases, 85.6% had experienced somatic symptoms, and 49.7% belonged to the nutritional risk group. 2) Older age, lower educational level, more pocket money, a larger number of diseases, more severe cognitive symptoms and poorer nutritional status were significantly related to a higher depression score. 3) Significant factors influencing depression were nutritional status, cognitive symptoms and the number of diseases, which explained 38.1% of the variance of elderly depression, and nutritional status was the most influencing factor. CONCLUSION: The finding of this study gives useful information for developing assessment tools and interventions for elders' depression.

Effects of the Exercise Self-Efficacy and Exercise Benefits/Barriers on doing Regular Exercise of the Elderly / 간호학회지

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the effects of exercise self-efficacy and exercise benefits/barriers on doing regular exercise among elderly. METHODS: The subjects were 484 older adults who were eligible and agreed to participate in this study. Data were collected from July 27 to September 21, 2007 by face-to-face, and private interviews. The questionnaires consisted of Exercise Self-efficacy, and Exercise Benefits/Barriers. The collected data were analyzed with the SPSS 13.0 program, which was used for frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, t-test, ANOVA, and logistic regression. RESULTS: The major findings of this study were as follows: 1) Approximately 56.8% of participants were doing regular exercise. Study participants' exercise self-efficacy mean score was 36.30, exercise benefits 2.74, and exercise barriers 2.03; 2) There was significant correlation between exercise self-efficacy and exercise benefits; 3) Significant factors influencing regular exercise were self-efficacy, exercise benefits and exercise barriers. CONCLUSION: These results suggested that nurses should emphasize exercise benefits/barriers and reinforce self-efficacy to improve regular exercise in the elderly.

A Study on the Relationship between Discomfort and Depression of the Patients with Cast or Traction / 기본간호학회지

This study was performed to explore relationships between depression and discomfort of patients with cast or traction. 112 patients were selected from several hospitals in Jeon-buk province. Data were collected from Feb. 26th. to March, 2nd. of 1996 using survey interview designed by the investigator. Data analysis included percentage, mean, and standard deviation, t-test ANOVA, Pearson Correlation Coefficient. Results were as follows: 1. The depression score and the discomfort score were positively correlated (r=.3654, p=.0001) 2. The result shows that the score of ADLs (activities of daily living) and the score of discomfort were negatively correlated and they were statistically significant (activity r=-.1980, p=.0363; eating r=-.3483, p=.0002; bathroom r=-.4207, p=.0001; wearing r=-.4602, p=.0001. bathing r=-.3489, p=.0002).