A descriptive study to assess the prevalence of depression among rural elderly at selected villages, Trichy District, Tamil Nadu.

Hetzy SK; Juliet S

Volume : VII, Issue : VI, June - 2018

A descriptive study to assess the prevalence of depression among rural elderly at selected villages, Trichy District, Tamil Nadu.

Hetzy Sk, Juliet S

Abstract :

The Indian elderly population is currently the second largest in the world. Mental disorders have got high prevalence and low priority among elderly in most of the countries around the world, of which depression being the most common treatable condition. Objectives: (1) To assess the Socio demographic characteristics of rural elderly (2) To determine the prevalence of geriatric depression, Methodology: A descriptive study was conducted at on 200 elderly people by applying GDS–15 Tamil version to assess the prevalence of depression and information regarding the sociodemographic characteristics were collected. Results: Level of depression in respondents was determined using the GDS–15 (shorter version) tool. Out of 200 Elderly 41.5 % of the respondents were Normal/ no depression, 21% of the respondents had mild severe depression, 35% had moderate and 2.5% had severe depression. Conclusions: The current research has shown prevalence of depression according to GDS–15 (Tamil version) as 58.5%. So, the results endorse that there is a high prevalence of depression among the geriatric population and adequate measures should be taken to identify this psychiatric disorder in elderly at rural community.