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The Effects of Depressive Symptoms on Quality of Life Among Institutionalized Older Adults in T aiwan
Author(s) -
Li Ichuan,
Kuo HuaiTing,
Lin KuanChia,
Wu YiChen
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
perspectives in psychiatric care
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.538
H-Index - 35
eISSN - 1744-6163
pISSN - 0031-5990
DOI - 10.1111/ppc.12029
Subject(s) - depressive symptoms , quality of life (healthcare) , mental health , medicine , physical health , gerontology , depression (economics) , cross sectional study , psychiatry , anxiety , nursing , pathology , economics , macroeconomics
Purpose To explore the effect of physical health status and depressive symptoms on quality of life ( QOL ) and to examine whether depressive symptoms mediate the effect of physical health status on the physical and mental components of QOL among institutionalized older adults. Design and Methods A cross‐sectional study was used to assess 306 residents from 73 long‐term care facilities in T aipei, T aiwan. Findings We found that depressive symptoms mediated the relationship between the number of chronic diseases and activities of daily living and physical components of QOL ( z = −2.41, p = .016; z = 3.33, p < .001) as well as between the number of chronic diseases and mental components of QOL ( z = −2.45, p = .014). Practice Implications Our findings indicate that alleviating depressive symptoms can improve the QOL of older adults in long‐term care facilities.