Turkish Journal of
GERIATRICS

Trakya Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi Aile Hekimliği Anabilim Dalı, Yardımcı Doçent Doktor
Trakya Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi Aile Hekimliği Anabilim Dalı, Araştırma Görevlisi Quality of life is an important measure of optimal health care in chronical disease. Depression, alone or with other disease, is an important determinant of quality of health in older people. Nursing homes are places where older people are supplied with social support that protect them from depression as well as shelter the care and health services. In this study, older people who reside in nursing home of Edirne or in their own homes were surveyed for depression with Geriatric Depression Scale form (GDÖ). The mean score was 5,34 ± 3,74. Statistical significance occurred between the responses to the different items of the scale for the two groups. High scores of the scale were 48,1% for the nursing home residents and 37,2% for the ones living in their own home. These results are concordant with the other results obtained in our country. High scores of the scale counts for 1/3 of the total in general public and 1/2 of the total in nursing home and this finding stresses that we could not supply proper social support to our elders and give optimal medical care for depression. Variation of the response to the items of the scale between the two groups indicates different contexts of depressions. Health care providers of the nursing homes should be careful about the high incidence of depression in these establishments. GDÖ is a reliable tool to determine the individuals under risk of depression. Keywords : elderly, depression, nursing home, surveillance test