J o u r n a l o f G e r o n t o l o g y & G e r i a t r i c R e s e a r c h ISSN: 2167-7182 Journal of Gerontology & Geriatric Research Suresh and Jamuna, J Gerontol Geriatr Res 2018, 7:4 DOI: 10.4172/2167-7182.1000480 Volume 7 • Issue 4 • 1000480 J Gerontol Geriatr Res, an open access journal ISSN: 2167-7182 Open Access Research Article Depression among Residents of Free and Pay Stay Care Homes for the Aged Suresh K* and Jamuna D Department of Psychology, Centre for Research on Ageing, Sri Venkateshwara University, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, India Keywords: Depression; Senior care homes; Socio-demographic variables Introduction Depression is common in the elderly and is a major public health problem. Te WHO in 2005 also emphasizes that depression, which is the fourth most common illness, can lead to emotional, physical, economic, and social problems (World Health Organization). Te prevalence rate of depression varies worldwide, and their prevalence rates range between 10% and 55%. A study shows the depression ranges from 34.6% to 77.5% in old age home [1]. Depression in late life is associated with signifcant morbidity, including defcits in a range of cognitive functions and considerable infuence on functional impairment, disability [2], decreased quality of life, and has a negative efect on the body’s recovery from illness, increases the rate of suicide, increases use of health care services and expenses and can result in early death and disturbance in the general state of wellness [3]. Depressive symptoms are associated with greater impairment and decreased quality of life among patients with coexisting chronic illnesses, such as emphysema, cancer, and diabetes. When depression coexists with other medical conditions, the resulting disability appears to be additive. However, even in older adults without a disability, depression signifcantly increases the risk for subsequent incident ADL and mobility disability. Studies have estimated that “elderly persons with depressive symptoms accrued 50% higher healthcare costs from more frequent use of medical services” than do other older adults not sufering from depression [4]. A number of factors have been associated with late-life depression because many of these factors, such as illness and loss of family, friends, social support or independence, are common among older people [5]. It is sometimes assumed that depression is a natural part of aging. Tere is, in fact, continuing debate as to how depression relates to aging. Diagnosis of depression has been reported to increase with age up to 65 years and then decrease in prevalence [6]. Some studies suggest that depression sometimes goes unidentifed and untreated in elderly individuals, including those in long-term care homes [7]. In studies of depression and mortality, the odds of dying were 1.5 to 2 times greater in elderly people with depression compared to those without depression [8]. Older adults living in senior care homes are more vulnerable to health- related problems including mental health problems. Various prevalence studies have reported mental health problems among residents of senior care homes. Researches on mental health and life in old age homes *Corresponding author: Suresh K, Department of Psychology, Centre for Research on Ageing, Sri Venkateshwara University, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, India, Tel: +91-9052072050; E-mail: suresh108svu@gmail.com Received July 23, 2018; Accepted August 28, 2018; Published August 31, 2018 Citation: Suresh K, Jamuna D (2018) Depression among Residents of Free and Pay Stay Care Homes for the Aged. J Gerontol Geriatr Res 7: 480. doi:10.4172/2167- 7182.1000480 Copyright: © 2018 Suresh K, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. demonstrated that depression, maladjustment, worry, psychosomatic distress, loneliness and other psychological problems [9,10]. Periodical Reviews on Indian gerontology and gero-psychology indicate that one of the gray areas in gerontology is mental health of residents living in senior care homes [11,12]. In view of this, an attempt was made through the present study to examine the depression among residents of free and pay and stay senior care homes located in united Andhra Pradesh. Method Sample A sample of 200 residents living in free and pay and stay senior care homes of united Andhra Pradesh from the age groups of 60-69, and 70-79 years were drawn by using a multi-stage random sampling technique. Afer obtaining formal permission from the authorities of senior care homes, 100 older adult residents from free care homes for seniors and 100 older adult residents from pay and stay senior care homes with 10 from each home (10 × 10 homes) were identifed at random. Te subjects without chronic illness and those cognitively intact were included in the study. Te subjects in the study were individually contacted and tests were administered in one session if they were willing to participate. Personal Data Form (PDF) was used to seek information on relevant socio-demographic characteristics of participants. Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) was used to assess depression levels in the elderly. In the present study, the short form, GDS-15 was used. Te 15 item GDS-15 has been translated to Telugu, the regional language and was administered to 30 Indian older adults (N=30) with an interval of 10 days. Te test-retest reliability of GDS- 15 was 0.87. Te infuence of certain socio-demographic variables on dependent variable depression was tested through a simple ‘t’ tests. Results and Discussion In this subsection, the data pertaining to depression in various Abstract One of the mental health concerns during later part of adulthood is depression. Reviews on gerontological researches shows that there is a dearth of researches in this area. Thus, an attempt is made in this study to assess the levels of depression and depressive mood in a sample of 200 residents of free and pay and stay homes for the aged located in United Andhra Pradesh. Level of depression and nature and frequency pregnancy of depressive mood among residents were recorded by using an adapted version of geriatric depression scale. Results on depression among residents are discussed across socio-demographic subgroups. Mental health care policy implications are discussed.