Relationship Between Depression and Social Support Among the Elderly in A Community in South South Nigeria.
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Abstract
Depression in the elderly is an important public health problem because of its devastating consequences. Depression is a serious medical illness that can cause suffering for individuals and has negative effects on their family and the community they live in. The impact of depression on the physical and mental wellbeing of elderly cannot be overemphasized.
Despite this growing burden of mental illnesses such as depression and the resultant level of suffering for individuals and society, efforts to address it are unsatisfactory. Depression in the elderly has been linked to risk factors such as poor social support and chronic diseases. Social support is a resource that has significant effect on health outcome in the face of stress. The lack of social security, institutional framework for the care of the old and the support from extended family fading out, has resulted in some elderly being physically and emotionally abused. The mental health of the elderly has been investigated in various parts of Nigeria, mainly in the urban areas and only a few has been done in the rural areas and we do not have sufficient local data in Eku Baptist Hospital to establish this fact.
The aim of this study is to determine the relationship between depression and social support among elderly patients attending Eku Baptist Hospital. This study was a hospital based descriptive cross-sectional study. The study instruments were Questionnaires which included socio-demographic variable, two validated tools (Geriatric Depression Scale SF-15 and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support), medical history and physical examination.
Data was collated and analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS-21). Test of association was done using Pearson’s chi square (or Fisher’s exact test). The level of significance was set at 5% (p<0.05).
The majority were in the age range 60 to 69 years with the mean (SD) age of respondents as 69.7 ± 6.7 years. Majority of the respondents ninety-six (46.6%) had moderate social support, seventy-nine (38.4%) had high social support while thirty-one (15.0%) respondents had low social support. The association between social support and depression status was statistically significant (p<0.0001).
This study showed that social support is one of the factors which influence symptoms of depression in the elderly. As one ages, social support should be encouraged in any form.
Despite this growing burden of mental illnesses such as depression and the resultant level of suffering for individuals and society, efforts to address it are unsatisfactory. Depression in the elderly has been linked to risk factors such as poor social support and chronic diseases. Social support is a resource that has significant effect on health outcome in the face of stress. The lack of social security, institutional framework for the care of the old and the support from extended family fading out, has resulted in some elderly being physically and emotionally abused. The mental health of the elderly has been investigated in various parts of Nigeria, mainly in the urban areas and only a few has been done in the rural areas and we do not have sufficient local data in Eku Baptist Hospital to establish this fact.
The aim of this study is to determine the relationship between depression and social support among elderly patients attending Eku Baptist Hospital. This study was a hospital based descriptive cross-sectional study. The study instruments were Questionnaires which included socio-demographic variable, two validated tools (Geriatric Depression Scale SF-15 and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support), medical history and physical examination.
Data was collated and analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS-21). Test of association was done using Pearson’s chi square (or Fisher’s exact test). The level of significance was set at 5% (p<0.05).
The majority were in the age range 60 to 69 years with the mean (SD) age of respondents as 69.7 ± 6.7 years. Majority of the respondents ninety-six (46.6%) had moderate social support, seventy-nine (38.4%) had high social support while thirty-one (15.0%) respondents had low social support. The association between social support and depression status was statistically significant (p<0.0001).
This study showed that social support is one of the factors which influence symptoms of depression in the elderly. As one ages, social support should be encouraged in any form.
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