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Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
Institutionalized elderly people often experience feelings of depression and
loneliness. However, there are strategies to combat these problems allowinga
better quality of life.
Objectives
To know the feelings of the elderly in relation to their life.
To determine the degree of depression.
To verify if loneliness is associated with depression.
Methods
A cross-sectional, quantitative, observational and analytical study was
developed. A questionnaire was developed containing socio demographic
questions, the Geriatric Depression Scale and the UCLA Loneliness Scale. A
sample of 62 elders (40 women e 22 menaged between 40 and 99 years) that
were institutionalized at the Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Vinhais was
collected. SPSS 21.0 was used to compute descriptive statistics and Spearman
correlation test.
Results
It was found that 46.8% of respondents had moderate depression and 45.2%
had severe depression. There was no evidence of minor depression among
elders. The Spearman correlation test show that there is a significant correlation
between the Depression and Loneliness (rho=0,472), this means that the
correlation is positive and moderate.
Conclusions
Institutionalized elderly presented moderate and severe depressionlevels.
Depression is, significantly, associated with loneliness.The results highlight the
need to adopt new strategies for healthy aging, specifically, strategies to
decrease the loneliness of the elderly.
Description
Keywords
Loneliness Depression Institutionalized elderly Northeast Portugal
Citation
Ribeiro. M.; Rodrigues, C.; Gonçalves, C.; Sousa, V. (2014). Loneliness and depression in the institutionalized elderly. Revista de Saúde Pública. ISSN 0043-8910. 48:nº esp. e 2 IPLeiria International Health Congress. Leiria