Vol.3, No.1, 6-11 (2014) Advances in Aging Research http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/aar.2014.31002 Copyright © 2014 SciRes. OPEN ACCESS Depression among elderly living in Briddashram (old age home) Hom Nath Chalise Asian College for Advance Studies, Purbanchal University, Satdobato, Lalitpur, Nepal; chalisehkpp@gmail.com Received 11 September 2013; revised 11 October 2013; accepted 18 October 2013 Copyright © 2014 Hom Nath Chalise. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. In accor- dance of the Creative Commons Attribution License all Copyrights © 2014 are reserved for SCIRP and the owner of the intellectual property Hom Nath Chalise. All Copyright © 2014 are guarded by law and by SCIRP as a guardian. ABSTRACT Introduction: Depression is a common public health issue with the increasing life expectancy worldwide and depression is associated with morbidity as well as disability among the elderly. There are very few studies related with depres- sion among elderly from developing countries. Objective : The purpose of this study was to as- sess the prevalence of depression and its cor- relates among the elderly living in Briddashram (old age home). Methods : This is a cross-sec- tional study carried out in 2012. Data were col- lected by face-to-face interview using short ver- sion of Geriatric Depression Scale. The data were analyzed using percentage, mean, simple correlation and regression. Results: The sub- jects (N = 185) were elderly aged 60 years and above living in Devghat area, Nepal. Mean age of the subjects was 73.67 (±3.23) years old and 51% were male. 94% elderly belong to Khas ethnicity. Nearly one third (31%) elderly were from nuclear family back ground, 25% were married, and only 18% elderly were literate. Majority of the elderly (93%) had health problems and self reported health shows 86% elderly reported their health fair. This study shows mean functional disability score was 2.53 (±2.05). Finding shows the pre- valence of depression was 57.8%. Among them 46.7% had mild, 8.9% had moderate and 2.2% had severe depression. A statistically significant correlation was found between feelings of de- pression and age, sex, previous family type, eth- nicity, feeling of loneliness and instrumental act- ivities of daily living. Regression analysis shows that being women, feeling of loneliness and higher the dependency in IADL were predictors of depression. Conclusion : This study indicates that many elderly living in the Briddashram are suffering from depression. There should be some interruption from the concerned authori- ties so that depression can be reduced which will support to the well-being and quality of life of elderly. KEYWORDS Depression; Elderly; Briddashram; Old Age Home; Nepal 1. BACKGROUND Old age is usually discussed in connection with the different types of problems encountered by the aged and the welfare measures associated with providing them a better quality of life. It has been observed that physical diseases, psychological illness and adjustment problems are quite common during this phase of life. People in general are approacensive and speak about the difficul- ties that they face during the fag end of their lives. In elderly physical changes include wrinkling of skin, stop- ped posture, flabbiness of muscles, decreased vision and hearing, a decreased efficiency of cardiovascular system. The theme of this age period is loss, which may be iden- tified like loss of physical abilities, loss of intellectual rocesses, loss of work role and occupational identifica- tion (Retirement), loss of intimate ties, such as death of spouse, friends and other a acquaintances [1]. Depression is common in the elderly and is a major public health problem. The WHO (2005) also emphasiz- es that depression, which is the fourth most common illness, can lead to physical, emotional, social and eco- nomic problems [2]. The prevalence rate of depression varies worldwide and their prevalence rates range be-