Vol. 8, Issue 5 (2019)

Author(s):
Kavita Rani, Kiran Singh and Manesh Rani

Abstract:
Depression is a medical problem that is commonly seen among elderly people which is sometimes unrecognized public health problem. So, a study was conducted in 50 elderly people above 60 years in Hisar district with the help of brief questionnaire in which the respondents were asked to respond to 30 questions as per long form of Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) to assess the depression among them. Out of total 50 respondents were found to have mild and severe score of depression. The results indicate that 40% male and 36.67% female respondents were found to be mildly depressed as per the Geriatric Depression Scale with a score ranging to 10-19. Whereas 15% male and 16.67% female respondents were found to be severely depressed with a score of 20-30. Results revealed that 43.75% of total respondents were found depressed in urban area and 45.45% in rural area. Out of the total respondents, 56.25% residing in urban area and 63.64% respondents residing in rural area were found to be financially independent. Significant association was also found between sociodemographic factors (age, financial dependency and living status) and depression.