The Effects of Family Support and Activities of Daily Living on Depression for Elderly Patients in nursing Homes Lee Joo Young1, Kim Tae Kyung2, Lee Bong Suk3 1Dept. Nursing, Seoul Women's College of Nursing, Hongjie-dong, Deodaemun-gu, 287-89, Seoul 2Dept. Nursing, Dong-Eui Institute of Technology, Yangzi-ro, Bussan Jin-gu, 54, Busan 3Dept. Nursing, Hallym Polytechnic University, Janghkgil, Dong-Myeon, 48, Chuncheon, 24210, Republic of Korea Online published on 14 May, 2018. Abstract The increase in prevalence of chronic diseases in the elderly population can lead to more elderly patients staying in nursing homes and patients being separated from their family which can result to patients experiencing depression for various reasons. This study aimed to identify the factors related to depression, family support, and activities of daily living (ADL) for elderly patients staying in nursing homes, according to the long-term care insurance system for the aged, and analyze the factors affecting depression. For data collection, a survey using a structured questionnaire was conducted among 204 elderly patients staying in nursing homes by nurses trained in data collection over a month in 2016. Depression, family support, and ADL tools were used to collect data, which were then analyzed by using an SPSS 23.0 Window program. Depression differed significantly by gender, age, education, and ADL. It was significantly and positively correlated with family support and had no correlation with ADL. The factor most significantly affecting depression was family support, followed by ADL, education, age, then gender. The results of this study confirmed the need for customized nursing interventions to understand the burden for primary caregivers in a family and take family support into account because the higher the level of family support is, the lower the level of depression becomes. It is also necessary to work with governmental policies and community-connected service with the objective of lowering the level of depression for elderly patients, who need long-term care service, and of developing customized family support improvement programs. Top Keywords Elder, nursing home, family support, activity of daily living, depression. Top |