Depression Among Elderly Users of Open and Closed Care Facilities in a Rural Region of Greece: an Important Public Health Issue

Social participation and depressive symptoms among older adults during the Covid-19 pandemic in Serbia: A cross-sectional study

Objectives

To determine the predictors and level of social participation and depressive symptoms within the context of isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic and investigate if the residence and type of housing had a moderating role in the relationship between social participation and depressive symptoms.

Methods

This cross-sectional, comparative, and correlational study was conducted on a sample of 299 participants. Research instruments used in this study included: socio-demographic questionnaire, the Geriatric Depression Scale, the Maastricht Social Participation Profile, and Mini-Mental State Exam.

Results

Social participation was found to contribute negatively to symptoms of depression (β = -0.245, p < .01), with a higher level of depression being found in older adults living in nursing homes (β = -0.152, p < .05).

Conclusions

The study confirmed a strong relationship between social participation and depressive symptoms in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Measuring the Association of Self-Perceived Physical and Social Neighborhood Environment with Health of Chinese Rural Residents

(1) Objectives: Using cross-sectional datasets, we investigated whether better self-perceived physical and social neighborhood environment was associated with perceived health status and health-related behaviors among Chinese rural residents. (2) Study Design: The study was based on the 2016 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) survey. The sample consisted of 7191 rural residents over 18 in China. (3) Methods: The article measured physical neighborhood environment from the two aspects of dwelling environment (DE) and public facilities convenience (PFC), and social neighborhood environment from public security (PS) and neighborhood relationship (NR). Associations between health status/health-related behaviors and self-perceived physical/social neighborhood environment were analyzed using multivariable logistic regression models adjusted for socio-demographic characteristics. (4) Results: The results suggested that rural residents who live in a good neighborhood environment reported having a better health status. Specifically, rural residents who reported living in good DE were less likely to have a depressive mood and poor health conditions. Those who reported good PFC were less likely to have depressive mood, poor self-rated health and chronic diseases. Rural residents who reported having good PS were less likely to have a depressive mood. Those who reported good NR were less likely to have a depressive mood, poor self-rated health, chronic diseases and obesity. Regarding neighborhood environment and health-related behaviors, the results showed that rural residents who reported good PFC were more likely to do physical exercise. Notably, the regression results of the education level variable showed that education level significantly promoted the health-related behaviors (time sleeping weekday, physical exercise and smoking) of rural residents. (5) Conclusions: This article suggested that there was strong evidence for a relationship between physical and social neighborhood environment and the general health of rural residents due to all causes. According to the conclusion of this article, in order to improve the health of rural residents, policy interventions should give priority to improving the neighborhood environment. In addition, the improvement in the degree that rural residents are exposed to education is of the same importance, which helps more rural residents to maintain good health-related behaviors.

Prevalence and determinants of depressive symptoms among adults in Indonesia: A cross-sectional population-based national survey

AIMS

To analyze the association between personal health conditions (self-rated health, physical function, and chronic conditions) and symptoms of depression in Indonesia.

METHODS

Data were collected from the Indonesian family life survey 5. This study used a cross-sectional study design with a sample size of 17,734 respondents. We included depressive symptoms, self-rated health, physical function, chronic conditions, demographics and socioeconomic variables. The center for epidemiologic studies depression scale was used to measure symptoms of depression. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the data.

RESULTS

The results showed that 23.47% of respondents had depressive symptoms, 20.04% had poor self-rated health, 55.93% had a poor physical function, and 32.37% had at least one chronic disease. Respondents who had poor self-rated health, had poor physical function, or had a chronic condition were all had a significantly higher odds of experiencing symptoms of depression after controlling for demographic variables (age, sex, married, and education level), social-economic, and smoking status.

CONCLUSION

Depressive symptoms were significantly associated with personal health conditions including self-rated health, physical functioning, and chronic conditions among community residents. Strategies that can improve personal health conditions needed to be studied at the community level to improve the level of mental health.