Social Support, mental health and effectiveness of a senior centre programme for elders living at home. Cross-sectional studies and a randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Depression and depressive symptoms are common mood disorders in later life and a challenging public health problem. Depression among elders is often related to physical symptoms resulting from chronic diseases or other impairments, as well as loneliness, isolation and lack of social support. Depression may lead to substantial costs and unfavourable impairments of health, thereby possibly causing a dramatic reduction in the quality of life. In 2006, The Norwegian Health Association designed and initiated the programme, “Senior centre – a service to elders with failing health”. The aims of the programme were to increase social support and quality of life, and to prevent late-life depression in older adults. The most important aim of the present thesis was to evaluate the impact of the senior centre programme on depression and social support. An additional aim was to gain knowledge about the socio-demographic, psychosocial and health characteristics of users of the senior centres in relation to non-users. The third aim was to investigate the associations between psychological distress and social support, and between somatic and socio-demographic factors.