Identifying Risk of Depressive Symptoms in Adults With Physical Disabilities Receiving Rehabilitation Services: Propensity Score Approaches

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To compare the risk of depressive symptoms in adults with physical disabilities between rehabilitation-receivers and non-receivers. METHODS: A total of 3,568 adults with physical disabilities were retrieved from the 2014 Korean National Survey on People with Disabilities database. Four covariate adjustment methods (a multivariable regression model, inverse probability of treatment weighting [IPTW] adjusted for normalized weight, IPTW with stabilized weight, and greedy algorithm with 11 propensity score matching) were used to estimate the odds of having depressive symptoms. The dependent variable was depressive symptoms and the independent variable was the use of rehabilitation services. Baseline covariates were 19 demographic variables and 10 chronic condition variables. RESULTS: The four covariate adjustment methods revealed that adults with physical disabilities receiving rehabilitation services had a higher risk of depressive symptoms than those who did not receive these services (adjusted odds ratio, 1.191–1.294). CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that adults with physical disabilities receiving rehabilitation services have higher risk of developing depressive symptoms. Therefore, rehabilitation professionals need to pay attention to depressive symptoms and establish therapeutic strategies that can reduce such risk in rehabilitation settings.