This is a descriptive study to analyze the character strengths of the elderly receiving home nursing care and verify the relation between the character strengths and depression in order to build basic data that can be utilized to develop a customized ...
This is a descriptive study to analyze the character strengths of the elderly receiving home nursing care and verify the relation between the character strengths and depression in order to build basic data that can be utilized to develop a customized approach, from a positive psychology perspective of, to preventing and treating geriatric depression based on character strengths. The study surveyed 187 people aged 65 or older living in K-gu in Seoul who were receiving home nursing care services. The data were collected from January to March, 2016 .
To assess character strengths, the study used 48 questions of a self-report test that was first introduced in Character Strengths & Virtues by Peterson and Seligman (2004) and then adapted and simplified by Moon Yong-lin, Kim In-ja, Won Hyung-joo, Baik Soo-hyun, and An Sun-young (2009). To measure depression, the study used 30 questions suggested by Lee Ae-kyung and Lee Geum-mae (2006) who recomposed the Geriatric Depression Scale-Korean Version (GDS-K) by breaking down each category covered in the scale into 7 sub-categories (Jung In-kwa et al., 1996).
The data were analyzed using the SPSS/PC WIN 22.0 Program. The general characteristics of the subjects were analyzed with descriptive statistics (frequencies & percentages) and the character strengths and depressive symptoms were analyzed with means and standard deviations. The differences in character strengths and depressive symptoms according to general characteristics were analyzed with t-test and ANOVA test and the relation between the character strengths and depressive symptoms were analyzed with Pearson’s correlation coefficient.
The main findings are as follows.
Of the subjects, 66.3% were female and those in their 70s were the biggest age group, 56.3%. 32.7% were uneducated and 42.0% had a middle school diploma. 53.5% were living alone, 63.1% were perceived to have low economic status, and 46.5% said their monthly income was below 500,000 won. When it comes to health insurance, 56.1% were type-1 or type-2 medical beneficiaries or belonged to the near poor, while the rest 43.9% had regular health insurance. 40.1% had poor health.
When we looked at the distribution of the subjects’ character strengths, the Courage group was the largest at 40.1%, with the Temperance group and the Humanity group standing at 26.7% and 15.5%, respectively. As for the depressive symptoms, 47.6% of the subjects were in the normal range, while 25.1%, 10.7%, and 16.6% were suffering mild depression, moderate depression and severe depression, respectively.
While examining the differences in the subjects’ total scores for character strengths according to their general characteristics, the study found out those living with family and those with high economic status and good health showed significantly high scores. To be specific, those with a high level of education and high economic status and those who live with family and participate in social activities showed significantly high scores in “Wisdom and Knowledge,” while men and those with high economic status showed significantly high scores in “Courage.” As for “Humanity,” women, those with religion, those living with family, those with high economic status, those participating in social activities, and those with good health recorded significantly high scores. Those with religion showed significantly high scores in “Justice” and those in their 60s, those living with family, and those on high incomes recorded significantly high scores in “Temperance.” Those who had a job and those on high incomes scored significantly high in “Transcendence.”
When the study looked at the differences in the subjects’ depressive symptoms according to their general characteristics. Women, those with low economic status, those not participating in social activities, and those with poor health showed significantly high levels of depression.
As for the differences in the subjects’ depressive symptoms according to their character strengths, the “Temperance” group showed a significantly higher level of depression than the “Humanity” group and the “Courage” group.
The character strengths and depressive symptoms among the elderly turned out to have a negative correlation. The higher their character strengths were, the less depressive symptoms they showed. Broken down into specific categories, the negative correlation was strongest in “Wisdom and Knowledge,” going down to “Courage,” to “Humanity,” to “Justice,” and to “Transcendence.” “Temperance” didn’t show a correlation with the total score of depressive symptoms but had negative correlations with the sub-categories “unhappiness” and “lack of desire.”
“Wisdom and Knowledge” showed strong correlations with the sub-categories “loss of interest,” “unhappiness,” “cognitive inefficiency,” “central depressive symptoms,” “anxiety,” “social withdrawal,” and “lack of desire.”
The study is meaningful in that it examined the character strengths and depressive symptoms of the elderly receiving home nursing care, classified the character strengths into 6 groups, and analyzed their relations to depressive symptoms. Thus, the study is likely to contribute to the prevention of geriatric depression and the development of early intervention by providing base data for customized psychiatric nursing that utilizes the specific character strengths of the elderly in each community.
Keywords : Character strengths, Geriatric depression,
Home nursing care