Annotated Bibliography on Depression in Elderly People

This annotated bibliography provides a summary of research studies on depression in elderly people. The studies investigate the prevalence rate, risk factors, and quality of life of elderly people with depression. The bibliography includes three research studies conducted in nursing homes, community-dwelling older adults in Singapore, and elderly persons with and without mild cognitive impairment. The findings of the studies have significant implications for clinicians and researchers in the field of geriatric depression.

Running head: ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Annotated bibliography
Name of the student:
Name of the University:
Author’s note

1ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Polyakova, M., Sonnabend, N., Sander, C., Mergl, R., Schroeter, M. L., Schroeder, J., &
Schönknecht, P. (2014). Prevalence of minor depression in elderly persons with and without mild
cognitive impairment: a systematic review. Journal of affective disorders, 152, 28-38,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2013.09.016
The main aim of the research by Polyakova et al. (2014) is to investigate regarding the
prevalence rate of minor depression in older adults with our without mild cognitive impairment.
The main rational for research in this area was the research studies mostly focus on major
depressive disorder. However, minor depression is the most prevalent disorder in primary care
setting. The main research issue was that insignificant clinical diagnostics has been covered
related to minor depression in research studies.
To gain an understanding regarding the prevalence rate of minor depression in older
adults with or without mild cognitive impairments and understand other co-morbid disorders
associated with the condition, a systematic review of research literature was conducted. The
systematic literature search in databases and screening of the articles against inclusion and
exclusion criteria led to selection of 23 research papers. The review of research studies gave the
idea that prevalence of late life minor depression ranged from 0 to 18.6% in research studies and
the prevalence rate was the highest for medical setting. The data related to co-occurrence of
Minor depression and major cognitive disorder varied in research studies. Heterogeneous
influence of gender on development of minor depression was found and little impact of age on
the prevalence rate was found. To conclude, significant variation in the point prevalence rate was
found.

2ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
The findings related to point prevalence rate, risk factors and factoring contributing to
minor depression in elderly people can have useful implication in elucidating the occurrence and
etiology of minor depression. The systematic review revealed several factors contributing to the
disorder. This may help clinicians to better recognize, prevent and treat people with minor
depression. As the study argues that depression is one of the most prevalent predictor of
Alzheimer’s disease, future studies should focus on determining whether depressive symptoms
increase the risk of Alzheimer’s disease or not.
Ilievová, Ľ., Žitný, P., & Jakobejová, J. (2016). The association between the quality of life and
depression of elderly in a nursing home institutional setting. Journal of Health Sciences, 6(3),
162-167, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17532/jhsci.2016.364
The main purpose of Ilievová, Žitný and Jakobejová (2016) was to study association
between quality of life and level of depression in elderly by conducting a research in a nursing
home institutional setting. Depression is common issues for elderly people and the degree of
fulfilment of their needs in nursing home setting can determine the extent to which their quality
of life can improve. Hence, research in the area is necessary to understand whether good quality
care in nursing home can reduce depression in elderly people or not.
In accordance with the research aim, Ilievová, Žitný and Jakobejová (2016) used survey
method to analyse quality of life and depression in elderly people residing in nursing homes. The
research participants had to respond to two set of questionnaire- One for a standardized test of
mental functions and other for depression rating scale and the Quality of Life Enjoyment and
Satisfaction questionnaire (Q-LES-Q-SF). The statistical analysis of study outcome revealed
statistically significant difference between quality of life of participants. The first and last

3ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
measurements related to quality of life revealed statistically significant increase in the quality of
life. The finding revealed that depression symptoms change with change in characteristics of
daily practice in nursing home setting. However, the first and last measurements during 11
months showed significant improvement in level of depression.
The research findings and analysis of research outcomes related to data collected in
nursing home setting showed that after getting through natural adaptation in a new environment
of nursing homes, the quality of life of patients increases significantly. The result gives the
implication that depression is not correlated with quality of life and good caring practices can
promote good quality living in elderly patients. The limitation of the work is that it has been
done in single and small nursing home setting and the recommendation for future research is to
further confirm the findings in larger setting.
Li, J., Theng, Y. L., & Foo, S. (2015). Depression and psychosocial risk factors among
community-dwelling older adults in Singapore. Journal of cross-cultural gerontology, 30(4),
409-422, Retrieved from: http://www.ntu.edu.sg/home/sfoo/publications/2015/2015-J-
CrossCultureGerontology_fmt.pdf
Li, Theng and Foo (2015) aimed to study investigate about the risk factors of depression
in later life by conducting research with community dwelling older adults living in Singapore.
The main research problem for the study was population aging and prevalence of depression in
geriatric group. Although many research has explained about various risk factors of depression,
however very few studies have established links between different factors. As Singapore is a
rapidly aging society, investigation about risk factors of depression in Singapore was important.

4ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cross-sectional survey method was used to collect data from community dwelling senior
citizens in Singapore. A structured questionnaire and face-to-face interview method with 162
older adults in three senior activity centers helped in the collection of date related to geriatric
depression and psychological resilience. Specific tools were used to assess social support and
degree of loneliness among older adults too. The analysis of interview response based on
questionnaire for various tools revealed loneliness as the strongest predictor of geriatric
depression in the world. In addition, a strong negative association was found between social
support and geriatric depression. Emotional regulation was also found to have negative
association with depression. However, consistent findings were not obtained regarding poor
impact of psychological resilience with late-life depression.
The finding of the study is significant as it shows that psychosocial factors have a major
influence on the symptomatology of depression in older adults. As loneliness was found to be a
major risk factor of depression, it gives the clinical implication to target loneliness while treating
depression in older adults. Some limitation of the study is small sample size and lack of
examination of causal effects of psychosocial factors on geriatric depression. More number of
longitudinal studies is needed to clarify the causal effects of psychosocial factors.

5ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
References:
Ilievová, Ľ., Žitný, P., & Jakobejová, J. (2016). The association between the quality of life and
depression of elderly in a nursing home institutional setting. Journal of Health
Sciences, 6(3), 162-167, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17532/jhsci.2016.364
Li, J., Theng, Y. L., & Foo, S. (2015). Depression and psychosocial risk factors among
community-dwelling older adults in Singapore. Journal of cross-cultural
gerontology, 30(4), 409-422, Retrieved from:
http://www.ntu.edu.sg/home/sfoo/publications/2015/2015-J-
CrossCultureGerontology_fmt.pdf
Polyakova, M., Sonnabend, N., Sander, C., Mergl, R., Schroeter, M. L., Schroeder, J., &
Schönknecht, P. (2014). Prevalence of minor depression in elderly persons with and
without mild cognitive impairment: a systematic review. Journal of affective
disorders, 152, 28-38. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2013.09.016