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Reducing depression among older people receiving care: summary of intervention methods and findings
- Authors:
- LYNE K.J., et al
- Publisher:
- North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust
- Publication year:
- 2007
- Place of publication:
- York
Depression is very common among older people and often goes untreated. Common causes are loss of relationships through bereavement and loss of role. Another frequent cause of depression in older people is physical disabilities which prevent roles or activities which a person has especially valued. Difficulty in travelling outside one’s home is a common example. Others would be loss of valued activities like needlework, reading or writing through eyesight problems or arthritis. Depression is especially common within services for older people with many physical disabilities. Surveys have found around 25% of older home care customers to be depressed. Among another such group, older people who live in care homes, the proportion is around 40%. As life expectancy increases, more people suffer age-related physical disabilities. According to the 2006 White Paper, Our Health, Our Care, Our Say: “One of the greatest long-term challenges facing the health and social care system is to ensure that longer life means more years of health and well-being”. This concerns all services for older people – health services and social care, nursing and care homes, sheltered housing and home-based support services. How can they respond to depressed older people in their care? This intervention project explored whether depression could be reduced among older people, living in care homes and typically aged over 80, through guiding their regular care staff to assist life-improvements which particularly mattered to an individual.