Determining the Prevalence of Depression and Assessing Health-seeking Behavior among the Geriatric Population in Urban Slums of Sea Coast City of Saurashtra Region of Gujarat in India: A Community-based Cross-sectional Study.
Rohankumar Gandhi, Ilesh Kotecha, Dipesh V Parmar, M Yogesh
{"title":"Determining the Prevalence of Depression and Assessing Health-seeking Behavior among the Geriatric Population in Urban Slums of Sea Coast City of Saurashtra Region of Gujarat in India: A Community-based Cross-sectional Study.","authors":"Rohankumar Gandhi, Ilesh Kotecha, Dipesh V Parmar, M Yogesh","doi":"10.4103/jmh.jmh_139_24","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The elderly are disproportionately affected by depression, a devastating mental health illness that is common and causes significant impairment and a poor quality of life. In a community setting in India, this study sought to evaluate the prevalence of depression, degrees of associated disability, healthcare use patterns, health-seeking behavior, and awareness of government initiatives of mental health and care for the elderly.</p><p><strong>Objectives: </strong>This study was aimed to determine the prevalence of depression and to assess the health-seeking behavior among the geriatric population aged ≥60 years in the study area during the study period.</p><p><strong>Methodology: </strong>A cross-sectional community study including 450 senior citizens aged ≥60 years living in urban slums was carried out. Data were collected through structured interviews, utilizing the Geriatric Depression Scale using 30 items for assessing depression, the Sheehan Disability Scale for evaluating disability levels, and questionnaires on healthcare utilization, health-seeking behavior, and knowledge of government programs.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The prevalence of depression was high, with 129 (28.67%) participants suffering from mild depression and 33 (7.33%) from severe depression. Moderate to marked disruptions in their work (17, 51.52%), social life/leisure pursuits (24, 72.73%), and social responsibilities (family life) (27, 51.52%) were reported in a significant proportion of those with severe depression. Additionally, a substantial percentage reported feeling impaired and unproductive for most days of the week (<i>P</i> < 0.001). While the majority (358, 79.56%) visited healthcare providers, with 333 (93.02%) visiting government providers and 330 (92.18%) visiting community-level providers, the utilization of mental health services (10, 2.79%) and treatment for depression with antidepressants (7, 4.32%) was minimal. In addition, just 26 people (5.78%) and 3 people (0.67%) knew about the National Programme for Health Care of the Elderly and the Mental Healthcare Act of 2017, respectively, indicating a lack of knowledge regarding government initiatives pertaining to mental health and geriatric care.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The study highlights the significant burden of depression, associated disabilities, and inadequate health-seeking behavior among the elderly population in the study setting. Efforts should focus on strengthening community-based mental health services, improving awareness and access to existing health services and government programs and addressing the various risk factors responsible for the emergence and persistence of depression, and poor health-seeking behavior in the aforementioned vulnerable group.</p>","PeriodicalId":37717,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mid-life Health","volume":"15 4","pages":"269-279"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0000,"publicationDate":"2024-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11824934/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Mid-life Health","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.4103/jmh.jmh_139_24","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2025/1/2 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: The elderly are disproportionately affected by depression, a devastating mental health illness that is common and causes significant impairment and a poor quality of life. In a community setting in India, this study sought to evaluate the prevalence of depression, degrees of associated disability, healthcare use patterns, health-seeking behavior, and awareness of government initiatives of mental health and care for the elderly.
Objectives: This study was aimed to determine the prevalence of depression and to assess the health-seeking behavior among the geriatric population aged ≥60 years in the study area during the study period.
Methodology: A cross-sectional community study including 450 senior citizens aged ≥60 years living in urban slums was carried out. Data were collected through structured interviews, utilizing the Geriatric Depression Scale using 30 items for assessing depression, the Sheehan Disability Scale for evaluating disability levels, and questionnaires on healthcare utilization, health-seeking behavior, and knowledge of government programs.
Results: The prevalence of depression was high, with 129 (28.67%) participants suffering from mild depression and 33 (7.33%) from severe depression. Moderate to marked disruptions in their work (17, 51.52%), social life/leisure pursuits (24, 72.73%), and social responsibilities (family life) (27, 51.52%) were reported in a significant proportion of those with severe depression. Additionally, a substantial percentage reported feeling impaired and unproductive for most days of the week (P < 0.001). While the majority (358, 79.56%) visited healthcare providers, with 333 (93.02%) visiting government providers and 330 (92.18%) visiting community-level providers, the utilization of mental health services (10, 2.79%) and treatment for depression with antidepressants (7, 4.32%) was minimal. In addition, just 26 people (5.78%) and 3 people (0.67%) knew about the National Programme for Health Care of the Elderly and the Mental Healthcare Act of 2017, respectively, indicating a lack of knowledge regarding government initiatives pertaining to mental health and geriatric care.
Conclusion: The study highlights the significant burden of depression, associated disabilities, and inadequate health-seeking behavior among the elderly population in the study setting. Efforts should focus on strengthening community-based mental health services, improving awareness and access to existing health services and government programs and addressing the various risk factors responsible for the emergence and persistence of depression, and poor health-seeking behavior in the aforementioned vulnerable group.
期刊介绍：
Journal of mid-life health is the official journal of the Indian Menopause society published Quarterly in January, April, July and October. It is peer reviewed, scientific journal of mid-life health and its problems. It includes all aspects of mid-life health, preventive as well as curative. The journal publishes on subjects such as gynecology, neurology, geriatrics, psychiatry, endocrinology, urology, andrology, psychology, healthy ageing, cardiovascular health, bone health, quality of life etc. as relevant of men and women in their midlife. The Journal provides a visible platform to the researchers as well as clinicians to publish their experiences in this area thereby helping in the promotion of mid-life health leading to healthy ageing, growing need due to increasing life expectancy. The Editorial team has maintained high standards and published original research papers, case reports and review articles from the best of the best contributors both national & international, consistently so that now, it has become a great tool in the hands of menopause practitioners.
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：
京公网安备 11010802042870号
