The Relationship between Disability and Variables of Depression, Cognitive Status, and Morale among Older People

Objectives This study aimed to assess disability and its relationship with depression, cognitive status, and morale in older people.
Methods & Materials This descriptive-analytic research was conducted in a day-care rehabilitation center of Kahrizak charity foundation. A total of 90 older adults were selected by total enumeration sampling method. For the evaluation of study participants, we used The World Health Organization Disability Assessment 2.0 (WHODAS II) (36 items). This questionnaire examines the person’s disability in 6 domains of cognition, mobility, self-care, getting along, life activities, and social participation. The depression status was determined by Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15), cognitive status by Abbreviated Mental test (AMT), and morale of older people by Lawton’s Philadelphia Geriatric Center Morale Scale. The Chisquare test, Independent t-test, Mann-Whitney U-test, Kruskal-Wallis, and the Spearman correlation coefficient were carried out to analyze the data in SPSS version 16.
Results About 34% (n=31) of the participants were male and 65.6% (n=59) were females. The mean (SD) age of the sample was 72.39 (6.75) years. There were significant differences between men and women with regard to age, marital status (PConclusion Disability in older people had a significant relationship with their depression, cognitive status, and morale. Thus, the degree of their disability can be lowered by prevention and early treatment of depression, promotion of memory, delaying cognitive disorders, as well as providing morale enhancement programs, creating a positive attitude toward old age, and increasing life satisfaction in older people.