Mental health status of elderly patients in Mashhad’s selected hospitals in 1393

Introduction:Hospitalization, creating dependency in the elderly and affecting their mental health. This study was conducted to assess the mental health of elderly patients in selected Hospitals of Mashhad. Method:The study included 34 elderly hospitalized at several hospitals in Mashhad. Data were collected using demographic questionnaire and the General Health Questionnaire1. This questionnaire grading as a Likert scale from 0 less than normal to (3) is much worse than usual. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 16. Results:The mean age of patients was 70.55±5.15 years, the majority of them were male and resident. 94.1% lived in his own house. 47.1% of them hospitalized in surgical ward, 35.5% in medical ward, 11.8% in infectious disease ward and 5.8% in heart department. 70 % already had no history of psychiatric medications. Lowest health score was 9, the highest score was 28, the mean and median respectively was 15.61±4.94 and 14. General health score in 52.9% of patients was less than the cut-off point. The lowest score was related to the feeling of worthlessness (1.1±0.71) and the highest score was related to the ability to make decisions about their own affairs (1.4±0.60). Conclusion:The results show that half of the hospitalized elderly, have poor mental health and it is important to carry out interventions to promote mental health in this vulnerable group of people. However, further studies with larger sample size and more generally it is necessary to check the status of the elderly

Keywords:

Elderly , Hospitalization , Mental Health