Zadworna Magdalena
Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Lodz, Al. Rodziny Scheiblerów 2 90-128, Lodz, Poland.
BMC Palliat Care. 2025 Jul 18;24(1):204. doi: 10.1186/s12904-025-01841-z.
Recognizing and addressing depressive symptoms among palliative care patients is essential, given their impact on quality of life, connections to increased physical symptoms, and links with heightened mortality risk. The current study aimed to identify the relationships between social support, developmental task attainment, and depressive symptoms in older hospice patients.
The study included 120 Polish older patients aged 60-87 years receiving home palliative care. Respondents completed the Geriatric Depression Scale, the Developmental Tasks Questionnaire for Seniors, the Multidimensional Perceived Social Support Scale, and a sociodemographic survey.
The overall level of perceived social support and all its dimensions were negatively associated with depressive symptoms in older hospice patients. Effective handling of developmental tasks typical of old age emerged as a stronger protective factor against depressive symptoms. Moreover, developmental task attainment partially mediated the relationships between perceived social support and depressive symptoms.
A high level of social support combined with the effective accomplishment of developmental challenges typical of late life may prevent depressive symptoms in older hospice patients. The findings have valuable implications for psychological interventions in palliative care.
鉴于抑郁症状对姑息治疗患者生活质量的影响、与身体症状加重的关联以及与死亡风险增加的联系，识别和处理这些患者的抑郁症状至关重要。当前研究旨在确定老年临终关怀患者的社会支持、发展任务完成情况与抑郁症状之间的关系。
该研究纳入了120名年龄在60 - 87岁、接受家庭姑息治疗的波兰老年患者。受访者完成了老年抑郁量表、老年人发展任务问卷、多维感知社会支持量表以及一项社会人口学调查。
老年临终关怀患者感知到的社会支持总体水平及其所有维度均与抑郁症状呈负相关。有效处理老年典型的发展任务是预防抑郁症状的更强保护因素。此外，发展任务的完成在一定程度上介导了感知社会支持与抑郁症状之间的关系。
高水平的社会支持与有效完成晚年典型的发展挑战相结合，可能预防老年临终关怀患者出现抑郁症状。这些发现对姑息治疗中的心理干预具有重要意义。
