Nursing home admission leads to clinical depression
One in four seniors admitted to nursing homes are clinically depressed within a month, according to a new study, which also found that up to 60% of Australian nursing home residents were suffering from depression.
The study, conducted by Dr Kate McSweeney of Monash University, aimed to find out how much depression existed in nursing homes.
“We found that, one-month after admission to a nursing home, nearly one-quarter of residents had very severe depression, which was unlikely to improve without intervention,” Dr McSweeney said.
“Most often these residents also had pronounced memory and other cognitive deficits, and they were very impaired in their ability to care for themselves – for example, feeding and bathing themselves.”
Fifty-one residents from six metropolitan nursing home facilities in Victoria participated in the study, titled Depression in Nursing Homes.
