長期照顧服務與心理憂鬱之研究：以屏東縣高齡者為例

This research employs the data derived from a survey on the elderly people who are using home care services or attending the activities organised by community centres in Pingtung County. The findings illustrated that marriage status, staying alone during daytime, status of ADL, status of dementia and the need to long-term care services according to one's ADL, IADL and SPMSQ status were significantly related to the status of depression. In addition, the regression models showed that the status of marriage, status of dementia and the need to long-term care services were the most influential variables towards the level of depression among the ageing people in Pingtung County. In other words, on the one hand, elderly people who did not have spouse or family members to support her or his livings or mental needs might have greater tendency to suffer from depression. On the other hand, regarding to the relation between dementia and depression, the government's policy on accentuating day-care centres seems on the right track. Conclusively, the community-based long-term care institutions may be suitable model in Pingtung County in the future for the reasons that the elderly people may be able to access all kinds of services they need as well as maintaining family and social supports exactly in the communities they live.