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The effects of multifactorial fall prevention on depressive symptoms among the aged at increased risk of falling
- Authors:
- SJOSTEN Noora M., VAHLBERG Tero J., KIVELA Sirkka-Liisa
- Journal article citation:
- International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 23(5), May 2008, pp.504-510.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
This study is part of a multifactorial fall prevention trial with a randomised controlled design implemented in the town of Pori, western Finland. The study population consisted of ambulatory, 65-year-old or older Finns, with moderate or high cognitive and physical abilities who had fallen at least once during the previous 12 months. The participants (n = 591) were randomised into a risk-based multifactorial fall prevention programme (intervention group, IG) or into a one-time counselling group (control group, CG). The 1-year intervention included individual geriatric assessment followed by treatment recommendations, individual guidance regarding fall prevention, physical exercise in small groups twice a month, psychosocial group activities and lectures once a month, home-exercises and home hazard assessment. The outcome, depressive symptoms, was measured by the 30-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS). The full GDS data with no missing items were available for 464 persons. A significant decrease in depressive symptoms during the 12-month intervention was found both in IG and in CG, but the difference in change was not significant. However, a significant difference in change between the groups was found among men and older subjects (75) in favour of the IG. Multifactorial fall prevention had no effects on depressive symptoms among the community-dwelling aged. However, men and older participants benefited from the intervention.
Nursing home suicides: a psychological autopsy study
- Authors:
- SOUMINEN Kirsi, et al
- Journal article citation:
- International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 18(12), December 2003, pp.1095-1101.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Older adults comprise a fifth of all suicides. Elders are the fastest growing part of the population, thus the number of persons needing nursing home care will increase dramatically in the near future. Little information has been available about suicides in nursing homes. The present study described all suicides among older adults in nursing homes in Finland during a 12-month period emphasizing the factors that have been found to be associated with suicide in the general elderly population. Drawing on data from a psychological autopsy study of all suicides (n=1397) in Finland during one year, all suicides committed by patients in nursing homes were identified. Retrospective DSM-IV consensus diagnoses were assigned. Twelve elderly (aged 60 years or more) nursing home residents who died by suicide, 0.9% of all suicides, were identified. The primary finding of the present study was that nursing home residents who died by suicide had suffered from highly comorbid somatopsychiatric disorders. One or more diagnoses on Axis I were made for all who died by suicide in nursing home. Depressive syndrome was diagnosed in three-quarters of subjects. Only a third of these were identified to have suffered from depressive symptoms before their death. Early recognition and adequate treatment of both somatic diseases and mental disorders, particularly depression, as well as early recognition of suicide risk among nursing home residents, are needed in order to prevent suicide.
Broadening our vision of housing and community care for older people: innovative examples from Finland, Sweden and England
- Author:
- ANCHOR RESEARCH
- Publisher:
- Anchor Trust
- Publication year:
- 1999
- Pagination:
- 91p.,bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- Kidlington
Collection of papers exploring common issues in Finland, England and Sweden around the need to develop a broader vision of community care which emphasises prevention and the need for joint working across traditional boundaries. Also calls for a recognition that quality of life and social integration for older people encompasses a much broader range of services and issues than are usually associated with community care.
Abuse of the elderly: services provided for victims in a Finnish Nursing home, 1992-1993
- Author:
- PERTTU Sirkka
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Elder Abuse and Neglect, 8(2), 1996, pp.23-31.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
Describes the services provided for elder abuse victims in a Finnish nursing home. These services included shelter at the nursing home, a telephone service, and a support group. Results of the study showed the majority of callers and victims were women and the barriers for seeking help in an abuse case were high among the elderly. Recommendations are made for developing the functions of the nursing home and to create services which would prevent domestic violence and help the abused persons free themselves from the abuse and the abusers.