Exploring Individual, Family, and Extrafamilial Factors Associated With Depression Among Elderly Residents of Care Settings

This study investigated simultaneously the associations among individual, family, and extrafamilial factors and depression among elderly residents of care settings in Taiwan. The data for this study were obtained from the Vulnerability and Social Exclusion among Different Groups of Disadvantaged Elderly in an Aging Society: Phenomena and Strategies (1/2) project, which was conducted in Taipei City and Taipei County in 2007. We applied multiple regression procedures to a sample of 327 residents of care settings (48.3% women) who were mild physical impairment or physically independent and cognitively clear for determining factors associated with depression and their cumulative effects. We discovered that 24.5% of the residents were depressed. Physical mobility, number of chronic diseases, and self-assessed health status were significantly associated factors in all models. In the final model, we determined that one third of extrafamilial factors were significantly associated with depression, after controlling for all other variables. In addition, we observed an overall trend of increased mean scores of depression with an increase in the number of risk factors. The results imply that interventions aimed at preventing depression in elderly persons living in care settings, particularly persons with multiple risk conditions such as impaired physical mobility and medical comorbidities, should be designed to include extrafamilial elements. Establishing strong connections between elderly care setting residents and the institutional and neighborhood environments can help prevent depression.