Prevalence of depression among elderly living with family and living in old age home

A comparative study was done to find the prevalence of depression among elderly living with family and living in old age home at Coimbatore. Fifty elderly living in old age home and 50 elderly living with family were chosen by using purposive sampling technique. Data was collected with Geriatric Depression Scale by interview method. Among 100 elderly majorities (76 percent) of elderly did not show any symptoms of depression during the period of assessment. Eight percent of the elderly living with family was having mild depression and 14 percent of the elderly living in old age home was having moderate depression. Only one percent of the elderly living with family was having moderate depression, and no one was having severe depression during the period of assessment. Hence, the elderly residing at old age home were having more depression than the elderly living with family.