Factors Related to Depression and Mental Health That Affect the Quality of Life of the Elderly

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to provide basic data for the healthcare of the elderly by identifying the effects of depression and quality of sleep on the lives of the elderly. The subjects of this study were 120 elderly people who used the elderly welfare center and senior citizen center in one of the cities in South Korea, who understood the purpose of the study and signed the consent form for participation in the study. This study is a descriptive correlation study using a questionnaire to compare and analyze the effects of depression and quality of sleep on the quality of life of the elderly. Data were analyzed using the SPSS 25.0 program. According to general characteristics, the level of depression, quality of sleep, and quality of life were analyzed by frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation. The level of depression, quality of sleep, and quality of life, as measured by the general characteristics, were evaluated by the t-test and ANOVA. The quality of life, depression, and quality of sleep were analyzed by Pearson’s correlation analysis. Linear regression analysis was performed to analyze the factors influencing sleep quality. As a result of this research, depression, psychological, and social domains had positive correlations, and depression and biological domains had negative correlations. As a result of this research, quality of sleep was found to have a negative correlation with the psychological domain and quality of sleep was found to have a positive correlation with the biological environment domain. Based on this research, this author proposes that research should be attempted later with the elderly who were classified as the elderly who are living alone, the elderly who are living at home, and the elderly at the facilities as the subjects. Therefore, depression and the quality of sleep have a big influence on the health condition of the elderly because they may be the important health problems that cannot be overlooked in terms of the quality of life. Furthermore, there is a need to develop a continuous, specific, and practical healthcare program that can manage depression and quality of sleep in old age.