Functional mobility, depressive symptoms, level of independence, and quality of life of the elderly living at home and in the nursing home

Objectives: To compare functional mobility, depressive symptoms, level of independence, and quality of life of the elderly living at home and in the nursing home. Design: A prospectively designed, comparative study. Setting: A nursing home and a university hospital department. Participants: In this study, 33 elderly living in a nursing home and 25 elderly living at home, who fulfilled the inclusion criteria and volunteered to participate, were included. Measurements: Sociodemographic characteristics were recorded. Functional mobility (Timed Up & Go Test), depressive symptoms (Geriatric Depression Scale), level of independence (Kahoku Aging Longitudinal Study Scale), and quality of life (Visual Analogue Scale) scores were compared between the groups. Results: Functional mobility and independence level of the nursing home residents were higher than the home-dwelling elderly (95% CI: -4.88, -0.29 and 0.41, 6.30, respectively), but they had more depressive symptoms (95% CI: 0.30, 5.45), and their level of QoL was lower (95% CI: -15.55, -2.93). Conclusion: These findings are thought to be important and of benefit for health care professionals and caregivers as indicating the areas that need to be supported for the elderly living at home (functional mobility and independence) and in the nursing home (depressive symptoms and quality of life). © 2009 American Medical Directors Association.