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Association between religious practice and risk of depression in older people in the subacute setting
Author(s) -
Lac Alice,
Austin Nicole,
Lemke Renata,
Poojary Suma,
Hunter Peter
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
australasian journal on ageing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.63
H-Index - 34
eISSN - 1741-6612
pISSN - 1440-6381
DOI - 10.1111/ajag.12384
Subject(s) - religiosity , depression (economics) , geriatric depression scale , cognition , association (psychology) , medicine , scale (ratio) , clinical psychology , cross sectional study , psychology , psychiatry , clinical practice , older people , gerontology , family medicine , depressive symptoms , social psychology , physics , pathology , quantum mechanics , economics , psychotherapist , macroeconomics
Objective To identify the association between religious practice and risk of depression in older people admitted to a subacute hospital. Methods A cross‐sectional survey was conducted with 100 patients aged ≥65 years with Mini‐Mental State Examination ( MMSE ) scores ≥24 consecutively admitted to a subacute hospital. Religious practice was measured using the Duke University Religion Index and risk of depression using the 15‐item Geriatric Depression Scale ( GDS ). Results Geriatric Depression Scale was significantly correlated with intrinsic religiosity ( r = −0.21, P = 0.04) and cognition ( r = −0.22, P = 0.03). Conclusion This cross‐sectional study of older people in a subacute setting found depression scores were negatively and independently associated with both intrinsic religiosity and cognition. In conjunction with cognitive assessment, health professionals working with older people may consider taking a spiritual history as part of holistic care.