DEPRESSION IN ELDERLY AND THE IMPACT OF FAMILY SYSTEMS
Keywords:
Geriatric, depression,, Scale, Nuclear family, Joint familyAbstract
Objectives: To find out the frequency of depression in the elderly its association with the type of family system they
are living in.
Material & Methods: A Cross- sectional descriptive study has been conducted in the Psychiatry outpatient department
of Lady Reading hospital in Peshawar, Pakistan, from August 2014 to Feb 2015. Geriatric Depression Scale has been
administered on elderly people (60 plus) consulting the hospital. Depression intensity was assessed using Geriatric
Depression Scale. Age, demographics and gender has been recorded.
Results: Out of 345 patients, mostly patients have the age range of 60-69 years. Fifty percent of the subjects were male
and forty-nine percent were female. 56.8% subjects were living in joint family and 43.2% were living in nuclear family.
The frequency of depression was found to be 34.2%. The elderly living in atomic family framework were found to be
more suffering from depression as compare to those living in joint family system.
Conclusion: Living in a nuclear family system is a strong risk factor of depression in the elderly. The prevalence of
depression in the elderly population in our study was high and needs attention
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