Characteristics of senior centre users – and the impact of a group programme on social support and late-life depression
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5324/nje.v22i2.1574Sammendrag
Background: Senior centres are described as arenas for prevention. However, few studies have addressed this subject. The main aims of the present study were to evaluate the impact of a senior centre programme on depression and social support, to gain knowledge about the socio-demographic, psychosocial and health characteristics of users of the senior centres in relation to non-users, and to investigate the associations between psychological distress and social support and somatic and socio-demographic factors.
Methods: Data were obtained from the Norwegian Population Register for two municipal districts in Oslo. A random sample was drawn limited to 4,000 of the total number of residents over 65 years living at home. Self-report questionnaires were sent by post. The response rate was 64% and n=2,387. Psychological distress was assessed using Hopkins Symptom Checklist (HSCL-10) and social support with Oslo-3 Social Support Scale. Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was an outcome measure in addition to scales of health and life satisfaction. In total 415 persons fulfilled the inclusion criteria of the RCT and 92 completed the study.
Findings: High age and specific health problems were associated with increased use of the senior centre. Single women used the senior centres more than married women whereas single men used the senior centres less than married men. Lack of social support and somatic health problems increased psychological distress. Physical impairments and hearing in particular was associated with low levels of social support which again was associated with psychological distress. There were no significant effects on depression of the group programme. However, based on data from one year follow-up, the programme may have a delayed effect due to a general age-dependent increase in depression. This means that the intervention does not make any significant difference to persons with an already manifest depression, but likely prevents worsening for those with milder symptoms. Social support and quality of life were moderately improved.
Conclusion: The findings document a public health problem since the prevalence of physical impairments is high and loneliness is quite common and might lead to increased psychological distress. A further evaluation of these programmes is necessary to capture the effectiveness of the specific parts of the programme’s content.
Downloads
Nedlastinger
Publisert
Hvordan referere
Utgave
Seksjon
Lisens
Norsk Epidemiologi licenses all content of the journal under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) licence. This means, among other things, that anyone is free to copy and distribute the content, as long as they give proper credit to the author(s) and the journal. For further information, see Creative Commons website for human readable or lawyer readable versions.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
