The Assessment of Depression and Functions of Daily in the Elderly People Living in Nursing Homes

Our research, "The assessment of depression and functions of daily life in the elderly people living in nursing homes", was planned and carried out as descriptive and it was completed with the participation of 176 elderly people staying in Darulaceze between 21 October 2013-10 January 2014 with taking necessary permissions. Data forms were prepared in the line of literature by the researcher and it was collected by using "Information Form", "Depression Scale for Elderly People" and "Barthel Index". The data that was obtained in the study was analyzed with SPSS for Windows 21.0 licensed software. While assessing the data, along with the descriptive statistical methods (Number, Percentage, Average, Standard Deviation), t-test, One-way ANOVA test and Tukey's Post-hoc test were used. The results have been evaluated between 95% confidence interval, at p<0,05 significance level. According to the findings of the research, the mean score of "Depression Scale for Elderly People" was found as 12,46±5,99 and the mean score of "Barthel Index" was found as 69,29±32,44. When the depression status of the elderly people living in nursing homes was evaluated, it was detected that the depression mean score is high for elderly people who are female, never worked at a job before, comprehend poor level of health, are moderately satisfied to be living in a nursing home, prefer to live with their family, if they have another option, are visited by mostly her children and relatives, are visited rarely, pray when they encounter a problem (p<0,05). Referring to "Barthel Index" scores for evaluation of functions of daily life, it was detected that the "Barthel Index" mean scores are high for elderly people who are male, worked and quitted a job before, comprehend very good health, try to solve the problem when they encounter it (p<0,05). It was detected that there is a statistically significant relationship in a negative direction between the mean scores of "Depression Scale for Elderly People" and the mean scores of "Barthel Index" (p<0,05). Key Words: Nursing home, elderly people, depression, functions of daily life