Development of Depressive Prevention Program the Elderly Mueang District, Chaiyaphum Province

Abstract

          Objective : To Development program and compare its results from depressive disorder prevention in the elderly in Mueang Chaiyaphum District, Chaiyaphum Province

          Method : This is an action research. The samples were 101 elderly people in Mueang Chaiyaphum District, Chaiyaphum. They volunteered to participate in the research. They were divided into an experimental group of 51 samples and a control group of 50 samples. The research was conducted in 4 phases, 1) was studying and understanding the existing problems, 2) Development program, 3) was implementing the program, 4) evaluating the program. The research instruments included the Thai Geriatric Depression Scale with a total validity of .93 and the World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment Form with a reliability of .84. The statistics used for data analysis were frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, independent-samples t-test and the independent-samples t-test.

          Results : 1) The activities in the program included Buddhist praying, exercise, learning and caring for mental health and depressive disorder, cooking together, and home visiting. These one-day activities were all done 3 times per month for 3 months. 2) After joining the program, the experimental group showed a lower risk of depressive disorder (= 4.02 ,SD = 2.99 : = 6.30, SD =3.79) they had better quality of life than the control group (= 88.28 ,SD = 5.67: = 85.50, SD =10.52)  3) The risk of depressive disorder as well as the total quality of life, physical, psychological, and social aspects between the experimental and the control groups were different at a statistically significant level of  .01, .05, <.01, .01 and <.01.