Objectives: Elder abuse is a social and psychological problem of the community that has a significant impact in reducing mental health of the elderly. It can be considered as one of the factors predisposing to aging depression. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between age and depression in the elderly abused in Kashan, Iran, in 2014.
Methods & Materials: This descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted on 500 people aged.60 years old in Kashan City, Iran, in 2014. Subjects were randomly selected from 10 healthcare centers of Kashan. The study instruments were demographic information, elder abuse questionnaire in the family (α=0.97), and geriatric depression scale (α=0.90).
Results: Results of the current study showed that 80% of subjects have experienced at least one type of abuse during the last year. The highest rate of abuse was financial abuse (45.6%), and 79.2% had some sort of depression. Linear regression analysis showed that emotional neglect (P=0.001, β=0.20), financial neglect (P=0.036, β=0.117) and ostracizing (P=0.001, β=0.241) were significantly associated with depression. According to the test, a correlation was observed between the elder abuse and depression (r=0.490, P=0.001).
Conclusion: The study results indicate the importance and necessity of providing health care services and support for the identification of depressed elderly victims of abuse and prevention to solve this problem and improve their situation.