노인의 일반적 특성에 따른 우울감에 관한 연구

A Study on the Relationship of the Geriatric Depression to the Elderly's General Characteristics

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of the elderly population general characteristics to geriatric depression in order to change the depression-related factors for more healthy life of the elderly. For the purpose, 650 old people over 60 who resided in and around Seoul with their families were randomly selected, and an interview was held with each of them. The collected data were analyzed by frequency and one-way ANOVA. The instrument used to measure the depression level of the subjects was Yasavage(1983)'s Geriatric Depression Scale(GDS). The findings of this study were as below: As a result of surveying the depression level of the subjects in consideration of general characteristics, those who were older, less-educated, lost a spouse, lived alone, were in bad health, or had no income, suffered from more depression. The findings of this study suggested that the elderly felt more severe depression in case they were in socially poorer situation. This fact indicated there was a need to build private and public social support system for the elderly population to promote their mental health, although they were under the protection of their families.