A descriptive study to assess the emotional problems among elderly people residing in selected areas in Kerala

Jincy Jose¹, Sandra Benny¹, Sara Philip¹, Sreelakshmi Prakash¹, Vijisha Vijayan¹, Jyothilekshmi J.²

¹4^th Year BSc Nursing Students, Bishop Benziger College of Nursing, Kadapakkada, Kollam, Kerala, India.

²Nursing Tutor, Department of Community Health Nursing, Bishop Benziger College of Nursing,

Kadapakkada, Kollam, Kerala, India.

*Corresponding Author Email: jyothi.sreelal@gmail.com

ABSTRACT:

The present study entitled “A descriptive study to assess the emotional problems among elderly people residing in selected areas in Kerala”. The objective of the study was to assess the emotional problems among elderly people residing in selected areas in Kerala, to find out the association between the emotional problems among elderly and selected demographic variables. A total of 60 samples were selected based on purposive sampling technique and the emotional problems was assessed by providing self-structured questionnaire through google forms. The collected data were analyzed by using inferential statistics. The result of the study shows that among elderly people 8%were having mild emotional problems, 72 %were having moderate emotional problems and 20% were having severe emotional problems. The present study shows that there is no significant association between age, gender, marital status, education, occupation and family with emotional problems among elderly (calculated value<tabulated value) at 0.05 level of significant.

KEYWORDS: Assess, Emotional problems, Elderly people.

INTRODUCTION:

Elderly is a major type of vulnerable group in the society. Older adult hood begins usually between sixty and seventy-five years of age. The population of old age people with sixty plus age is estimated around sixty million in India. Most of them are living in rural areas. The older adults have face some special challenges because of great variation in the physiological, cognitive and psychological health status. They vary widely in their level of functional ability. Some of the major problems faced by the elderly are retirement, relocation, emotional problems, economic problems and economic dependency, maintenance of independence and self-esteem, health and medical problems such as dementia, depression, cancer, stroke, hypertension.

They also suffer from coping ability and social and psychological problems. Physical and psychological aspects of aging are closely related. Older people have reduced ability to respond stress. The experience of multiple loses and physiological changes associated with aging may place the person at risk for illness and functional deterioration. Decreased physiological function and increased prevalence of disease are due to the reduction in the ability to respond to the emotional problems faced by them.¹

The supported review of literature was:

A cross sectional study was conducted based on the topic, prevalence of the mental health issue among elderly on June 9, 2016. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of mental health problems such as depression, anxiety, and emotional stress and their associated factors among the elderly. The study was conducted in a rural community of Perak, Malaysia. About 230 samples were collected who belong to the age group of 60 and above. Convenient sampling technique was used for selection of samples. The Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21) was used to assess the symptoms of emotional health problems. The association was found out using chi-square tests and multiple logistic regression analyses. The findings of the study revealed that prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress among the elderly respondents was 27.8%, 22.6%, and 8.7%, respectively. The study concluded that depression and anxiety among the elderly in the rural community were very worrying.²

A systematic review and meta-analysis study was conducted about the topic to assess the Prevalence of depression among the elderly citizens. Between the years 1997–2016 the study was conducted in India. The main of the study was to estimate the prevalence of depression among elderly population in India. Study conducted in the special population groups, hospitals. About 100 samples selected for the study. Non probability sampling technique used for the selection of samples. Geriatric Depression Scale and Center for Epidemiological Studies- Depression screening tool was used for showing higher prevalence rate. The study concluded that the prevalence of depression among Indian elderly population as 34.4%. About one third elderly population of India suffered from depression with female preponderance.³

A cross sectional study on depression among elderly people living in old age homes in Karnool city. The study was conducted from August 2019-october 2019 in old age homes of Kurnool city with a sample size of 60 by simple random sampling. Depression was assessed using geriatric depression scale. Chi-square test was applied to test the significance and P value less than 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. The result of the study shows that the overall prevalence of depression was found to be 66.7% among inmates and is positively associated with female sex, increasing age, illiteracy, low socio economic status, economical dependency, and dependency for daily activities. The study concluded that the prevalence of depression is more among inmates there is a need to provide emotional support and facilities to engage them in various social activities of the community especially the elder females to prevent them from being depressed.⁴

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

In this study, research approach was quantitative and descriptive design was adopted. The sample size was 60. Populations of the study were elderly people who belong to 60 years old and above. The tool used in this study was checklist. The study was conducted in all districts in Kerala. The researchers conducted this study through Google forms. The data was collected after obtaining consent from the samples to participate in the study. The samples were selected based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. A total of 60 samples were selected based on purposive sampling technique and the knowledge of the elderly people regarding emotional problems was assessed by providing checklist through Google forms.

RESULT AND DISCUSSION:

The findings of study showed that out of 60 elderly samples, 8% having mild emotional problems, 72% were had moderate emotional problems and 20% had severe emotional problems. The association was computed by Chisquare test. The present study shows that there is no significant association of age, gender, marital status, education, occupation and the type of family with emotional problems among elderly. (calculated value< tabulated value) at 0.05 level of significance.

DISCUSSION:

Assess the emotional problems among elderly people.

A study to assess the stress, depression and coping strategies of elderly in selected old age homes at Tirupathi. Descriptive research design was adapted and 100 elderly aged between 65 and 85 years were selected by using non-probability purposive sampling technique. The study results revealed that the moderate level of stress experienced by highest percentage of elderly was 35%, low stress (30%) and 12% were perceived high level of stress. Regarding distribution of depression among elderly, suggestive of depression were 56%, indicative of depression were 8% and no depression (or) warrant a follow-up comprehensive assessment were 36%. The percentage distribution of coping strategies adapted by elderly was revealed that 56% were adapted adequately, moderately adapted by 35%and poorly adapted by 9% and mal-adequate coping were none. The highest mean value was shown towards the coping 56.46and lowest towards depression 6.04, highest standard deviation towards coping 14.51% and lowest towards depression 2.65. Karl Pearson’s correlation value for stress 0.084448, and for depression 0.189163, and for coping strategies were-0.06895. The study concluded that coping strategies was found to be effective in reducing level of stress and depression. 5

CONCLUSION:

The present study aimed to assess the emotional problems among elderly. The study showed that 8% having mild emotional problems, 72% were had moderate emotional problems and 20% had severe emotional problems. The association was computed by Chi-square test. The present study shows that there is no significant association of age, gender, marital status, education, occupation and the type of family with emotional problems among elderly. (calculated value< tabulated value) at 0.05 level of significance.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

We praise and our Lord, who has given us strength for completing our work. We extended our gratitude to the Director, Manager, Principal of esteemed institution for providing the opportunity to do conduct the research in this institution. This study has been done under the guidance, support and encouragement of our guide Mrs. Jyothilekshmi J, Nursing Tutor of Community Health Nursing, and our research co-ordinator. We consider it as a great honor and privilege to be under her guidance. Lastly, we extended our sincere thanks to entire faculty and non-teaching staff of this institution, for their support and prayers.

ETHICAL CONSIDERATION:

Institutional ethical clearance was attained in prior to the research study.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST:

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

REFERENCES:

1. Park K. Textbook of Preventive and Social Medicine 17th Edition. Banarsidas Bhanot Publishers, 1991.

2. Vankova H, Holmerova 1. Functional status and depressive symptoms among older adults from residential care facilities in the Czech Republic”, 2008; 23(5): 466-71.

3. Mellor D, Davidson T, ETL. The management of the elderly care recipients: family perspectives on the skills of professional carers. 2008; 25(1): 44-61.

4. Ganguli M, Chandra V, Gilby JE, Ratcliff G, Sharma SD, Pandav R, et al. Cognitive test performance in a community-based nondemented elderly sample in rural India: The Indo-U.S. cross-national dementia epidemiology study. Int Psychogeriatr. 1996; 8: 507–24.

5. Singh R et al. Psychosocial problems: An issue among the elderly in Kathmandu Nepal. International Journal of Health Sciences and Research. 2013; 3(2): 48-53

Received on 28.08.2021 Modified on 17.09.2021

Asian J. Nursing Education and Research. 2022; 12(1):132-134.

DOI: 10.52711/2349-2996.2022.00028