Aging & Social Change: Ninth Interdisciplinary Conference

Abstract

Depression is a common problem among the elderly and any age group. The symptoms of elderly depression can affect the quality of life of the elderly and their family. There are many risk factors related to depression, especially in the elderly people with chronic illness. A descriptive study was conducted among 200 elderly with chronic illness in Huayton subdistrict, Maung district, Chaiyaphum province. The patient health questionnaire-2 (PHQ-2), the patient health questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), and WHOQol-BREF were the measurement tool for collecting the data. The results found that most of the elderly were female (64%) and age between 60-69 years old (53.0%). Hypertension was the highest rate of chronic disease (62.5%) in this group. The majority of elderly had depression score by PHQ-9 in moderate level. Most of the participants had the overall quality of life score in moderate level (95%).