Center for Collaborative Research on Population and Society, Dongguk University, Seoul, Korea.
Department of Sociology, Dongguk University, Seoul, Korea.
J Prev Med Public Health. 2023 Nov;56(6):495-503. doi: 10.3961/jpmph.23.022. Epub 2023 Oct 6.
While older adults using community care services are known to be vulnerable for depression, community care utilization (CCU) may help to improve the mental health of these elderly. To date, however, it is much less clear how CCU affects depressive symptoms in the elderly population. This study focuses on the trajectory of depressive symptoms across years of CCU among older adults in Korea.
Using the 2006-2019 Korean Welfare Panel Survey, this study is focused on elderly born in 1940 or earlier and selected 3281 persons for baseline interviews in 2006. This consisted of 35 800 person-year observations during a period of 14 years. Panel data analysis were employed to construct years of CCU.
After controlling for covariates, linear term of years using community care was negatively associated with depressive symptoms, but a quadratic term was positively significant. The trajectory of depressive symptoms across the years of CCU follows a U-shaped curve. Older adults in the first year of using community care reported the highest level of depressive symptoms. However, a significant and steady decrease in depressive symptoms was observed during the following 9 years of CCU, which then gradually increased. The level of depressive symptoms at the 14th year of using community care remains significantly lower than the level at the outset of its utilization.
This finding implies that CCU could be beneficial for improving mental health among older adults.
虽然已知使用社区护理服务的老年人易患抑郁症，但社区护理的使用（CCU）可能有助于改善这些老年人的心理健康。然而，到目前为止，社区护理使用对老年人群抑郁症状的影响还不太清楚。本研究关注的是韩国老年人在多年社区护理使用中抑郁症状的轨迹。
本研究使用 2006-2019 年韩国福利小组调查，以 1940 年或更早出生的老年人为研究对象，在 2006 年选择了 3281 人进行基线访谈。这包括在 14 年期间进行了 35800 人年的观察。采用面板数据分析来构建社区护理使用的年限。
在控制了协变量后，社区护理使用年限的线性项与抑郁症状呈负相关，但二次项呈正相关。抑郁症状随社区护理使用年限的轨迹呈 U 形曲线。在使用社区护理的第一年，老年人报告的抑郁症状最高。然而，在接下来的 9 年社区护理使用期间，抑郁症状显著且稳定地下降，然后逐渐增加。在使用社区护理的第 14 年，抑郁症状的水平仍然明显低于开始使用时的水平。
这一发现表明，社区护理可能有助于改善老年人的心理健康。
