Mental Health and its Relationship with Ability of the Elderly referred to Tabriz Health Centers in 2018

Abstract

Abstract: Background: In old age, the elderly face many problems such as mental, emotional, social and physical problems. Although various studies have shown a relation between mental health and ability in different population but, there are limited studies in elderly population. Therefore, this study was conducted with the aim of determining the relationship between mental health and ability of the elderly referred to Tabriz health centers in 2018. Methods: The present study is a descriptive-correlational study that was carried out on 462 elderly people referred to Tabriz health centers in 1397. Samples were selected based on inclusion criteria using regular random sampling method. Data collection tools consisted of the individual –social characteristics questionnaire, Goldberg Mental Health Questionnaire (GHQ), and a researcher-made questionnaire for elderly ability assessment. After collecting data, they were analyzed by t test, analysis of variance and Pearson's correlation using spss21 software. Findings: The results showed that the total score of mental health was 43.05 8.29 and total score of ability was 47.22 4.73. According to the results, there was no significant statistical relationship between mental health and ability (p=0.27).The results of study showed that there is a significant statistical relationship between mental health and some individual-social characteristics, history of physical illness (p=0.00) and smoking (p=0.01) and having a house (p=0.00). There was also a significant statistical relationship between ability and number of children (p=0.01) and income (p=0.02). Discussion and conclusion: The findings of this study showed that, the majority of the elderly have physical illness. Furthermore, the elderly’s mental health is at moderate level and they suffer from some degree of disability relatively. The results of this study also showed that, there is no any relationship between mental health and the rate of ability of the elderly and the other factors may be involved in this field other than the variable of our study that need to be considered further. Therefore, it is suggested to investigate the relationship of factors such as self-efficacy and level of social support of the elderly with their ability.