Relations among Depression, Life Satisfaction and Health Promoting Behavior in the Elderly

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: The purposes of this study were to examine the relations among depression, life satisfaction and health promoting behavior, and to find factors related with health promoting behavior. METHODS: The subjects were 198 elderly people of over 65 living in K City and S City. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire and analyzed by SPSS/WIN 13.0. RESULTS: Health promoting behavior was significantly different according to religion, education level, living with family, previous job, pocket money, subjectively economic level, and leisure activities. Depression was significantly different according to education level, living with family, pocket money, economic level, and leisure activities. And life satisfaction was significantly different according to religion, living with family, and pocket money. The variables that affected the degree of health promoting behavior were depression, life satisfaction and living with family, and they represented 29.7% of health promoting behavior. CONCLUSION: The health promoting behavior of the subjects was better than average and, at the same time, the lower depression in the health promoting behavior was the higher life satisfaction was. Therefore, in order to decrease depression and to increase life satisfaction, the development of advanced health promoting programs will be helpful to lead health life for the elderly people.