Abstract

Depression is often referred as the “common cold” of mental illness. Prevalence of depression in elderly is high worldwide. In India it contributes to a substantial burden. Treatment of depression is inadequate for older people, being complicated by medication side-effects and poor adherence to treatment. The present study is undertaken to assess the effectiveness of a planned physical exercise program on depression scores among elderly residents of old-age home in Mumbai, India. Among 76 elderly residents of selected old age home, 47of them scored living with depression based upon Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS). A standardized 15 item self-reported GDS and observation checklist for observable manifestations of depression (r=0.87) were applied.  Among the latter group, 38 elderly residents (women:20 &men:18) met the inclusion criteria to participate in the exercise program. The pretest Geriatric Depression Score of 7.58 reduced to 5.11 in posttest. There was a positive effect of the exercise program on depression scores of the respondents (‘t’ value 15.152; P≤ 0.05). The mean value of observable manifestations of depression in the pretest was 4.18 which reduced to 2.05 in posttest. The research hypothesis (H1: There is a positive effect of planned physical exercise program on depression among elderly residents of a selected old age home) was accepted as (‘t’ 7.90, P≤ 0.05). An exercise program can be considered as an alternative treatment for depression in geriatrics. Development and efficient use of exercise program in old-age homes can be a prudent strategy.

Keywords: Depression, Old age home, Exercise program.