Education and Training Improve Quality of Life and Decrease Depression Score in Elderly Population

Abstract

The elderly population in Bali have increased in recent years, influenced by the improvement of health and nutrition. On one hand, still very few programs exist to help the elderly live independently. On the other hand, there is a decreasing trend in the quality of life and an increasing trend in depression score.

Aim: To understand the effect of education and training on quality of life and score of depression in the elderly population.

Method: Elderly individuals were divided into three groups with 22 members, 32 members, and 38 members respectively. One group was in the University is an urban group, one group was in Kuta Utara (suburban) and one rural group was in Munggu village. All groups received education from Dhyana Pura University lecturers with different topics twice a week for 5 months, with physical exercise each Saturday. Before and after the process, depression scores (Back Depression Index) and quality of life using the World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL) were measured.

Result: The result of this process is as follows: for the urban group BDI before the process was 17.14 ±14.87, and after the process was 7.14 ±4.29. The rural (village) group were 11.59 and 8.19, and the suburban group was 13,44 before process and 7.87 after the process. The quality of life scores was 20.41±2.32 and 22.50±1.50, for the physical domain, 16.45±3.10 to 19.82±2.38 for the psychological domain, 8.32±1.39 to 10.82±1.68 for social domain, and 24.14±2.75 to28.09±3.06, for environmental domain. Conclusion: Education and training can improve the quality of life and depression for elderly people. More participants are needed to achieve a general conclusion.

Keywords: elderly people, education, training, depression, quality of life

JEL Classification: I11, I12