Psycho-Social problems among elderly residing in Chitwan

Abstract

Older people are vulnerable to various diseases that have profound impact on overall health and their quality of life and higher use of health services. Ageing is a period when person is withdrawn from daily activities especially their work, and feel unwanted and burden to their family. As a result, they suffer from different psycho-social problems such as depression, anxiety, insomnia, dementia, and loneliness etc. These psychosocial problems can also have an impact on physical health and disability. There is dearth of information in our country regarding the psychosocial problems of elderly so there is need to address the issues based on evidence. Hence, this study aimed to find out the psycho-social problems among elderly people residing in Bharatpur, Chitwan A cross-sectional study was adopted and 388 elderly residing in different wards of Bharatpur Metropolitan city were selected using probability simple random sampling technique. Elderly aged 65 years and above were included in the study. Data were collected using interview schedule containing geriatric depression scale-15, Geriatric anxiety scale-10, University of California Loss Angels Loneliness Scale (UCLA-20), and Mini-Cog Test. Obtained data were analysed in SPSS version 20 for windows using descriptive and inferential statistics. Chi-square test was applied to measure the association between psychosocial problems and selected variables. Findings of the study revealed that the mean age (± SD) of the elderly was 72.92 (±7.12) years. Almost all (93.6%) elderly had full functioning of activity of daily living and two third (66.5%) had other co-morbid conditions. More than two third (67.0%) of the elderly had depression, 60.3% had anxiety, 53.6% had moderate to high level loneliness, 47.2% had insomnia, and 33.3% had dementia. Age, functional dependency, sex, co-morbidity, financial dependence, education, and occupation are significantly associated with the psychosocial problems in the elderly. In conclusion, psychosocial problems are common among elderly residing in Bharatpur, Chitwan. Hence, there is need to develop and implement health care strategy by local health care planner to prevent, treat and manage the psychosocial problems among this risk groups. Further, health care providers working in geriatric problems or psychosocial health need to conduct regular screening programs for the early diagnosis and treatment of these problems.