Influence of Living Arrangements on the Psychological Health of Older Women in Slums

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Abstract

Abstract. This study investigates the relationship between living arrangements and the psychological health of older women. It includes a total of 252 women aged 60+ years living in the slums of Kolkata, India. The results reveal that psychological impairments were highly prevalent in the study population. The pattern of living arrangements was found to affect psychological health conditions. Women living with distant relatives were found to be more psychologically distressed than their counterparts. Furthermore, emotional support showed significant contribution on psychological health status even after adjusting for the effect of living arrangements. Age and educational status were the most significant of the other concomitants. Overall, this study suggests that the combined effect of socioeconomic conditions, social support along with changing living arrangements may lead to observed psychological impairments.

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Development and validation of the Geriatric Anxiety Inventory.

A. Arnold, Natasha A Koloski, Margaret Harley … (2007)

Anxiety symptoms and anxiety disorders are highly prevalent among elderly people, although infrequently the subject of systematic research in this age group. One important limitation is the lack of a widely accepted instrument to measure dimensional anxiety in both normal old people and old people with mental health problems seen in various settings. Accordingly, we developed and tested of a short scale to measure anxiety in older people. We generated a large number of potential items de novo and by reference to existing anxiety scales, and then reduced the number of items to 60 through consultation with a reference group consisting of psychologists, psychiatrists and normal elderly people. We then tested the psychometric properties of these 60 items in 452 normal old people and 46 patients attending a psychogeriatric service. We were able to reduce the number of items to 20. We chose a 1-week perspective and a dichotomous response scale. Cronbach's alpha for the 20-item Geriatric Anxiety Inventory (GAI) was 0.91 among normal elderly people and 0.93 in the psychogeriatric sample. Concurrent validity with a variety of other measures was demonstrated in both the normal sample and the psychogeriatric sample. Inter-rater and test-retest reliability were found to be excellent. Receiver operating characteristic analysis indicated a cut-point of 10/11 for the detection of DSM-IV Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) in the psychogeriatric sample, with 83% of patients correctly classified with a specificity of 84% and a sensitivity of 75%. The GAI is a new 20-item self-report or nurse-administered scale that measures dimensional anxiety in elderly people. It has sound psychometric properties. Initial clinical testing indicates that it is able to discriminate between those with and without any anxiety disorder and between those with and without DSM-IV GAD.

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The importance of social support in the associations between psychological distress and somatic health problems and socio-economic factors among older adults living at home: a cross sectional study

Hege Bøen, Odd Dalgard, Espen Bjertness (2012)

Background Little is known of the importance of social support in the associations between psychological distress and somatic health problems and socio-economic factors among older adults living at home. The objectives of the present study were to investigate the associations of social support, somatic health problems and socio-economic factors with psychological distress. We also examined changes in the association of somatic health problems and socio-economic factors with psychological distress after adjusting for social support. Methods A random sample of 4,000 persons aged 65 years or more living at home in Oslo was drawn. Questionnaires were sent by post, and the total response was 2,387 (64%). Psychological distress was assessed using Hopkins Symptom Checklist (HSCL-10) and social support with the Oslo-3 Social Support Scale (OSS-3). A principal component analysis (PCA) included all items of social support and psychological distress. Partial correlations were used, while associations were studied by logistic regression. Results After adjusting for socio-demographics and somatic health problems, we reported a statistically significant association between psychological distress and social support: “Number of close friends”, OR 0.61; 95% CI 0.47-0.80; “Concern and interest”, OR 0.68; 95% CI 0.55-0.84. A strong association between lack of social support and psychological distress, irrespective of variables adjusted for, indicated a direct effect. The associations between psychological distress and physical impairments were somewhat reduced when adjusted for social support, particularly for hearing, whereas the associations between somatic diagnoses and psychological distress were more or less eliminated. Income was found to be an independent determinant for psychological distress. Conclusions Lack of social support and somatic health problems were associated with psychological distress in elders. Social support acted as a mediator, implying that the negative effect of somatic health problems, especially hearing, on psychological distress was mediated by low social support. We hypothesize that physical impairments reduced social support, thereby increasing psychological distress to a greater extent than the selected diagnoses. The combination of poor social support, poor somatic health and economic problems may represent a vulnerable situation with respect to the mental health of older persons. Free interventions that highlight social support should be considered in mental health promotion.

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Household Context and Subjective Well-Being Among the Oldest Old in China.

Stefania E Short, P. Chen (2008)

This article investigates the importance of household context to subjective well-being among the oldest old (aged 80 years and older) in China. Using data from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey, the authors find that living arrangements have strong implications for elderly emotional health. First, living alone is associated with lower subjective well-being. Second, coresidence with immediate family (spouse or children) is associated with positive subjective well-being. Third, compared to living with a son, the traditionally dominant type of living arrangement, coresidence with a daughter appears positively linked to the emotional health of the oldest old. Results highlight the importance of family and cultural context to subjective well-being of the oldest old. They also suggest that the gendered nature of caregiving merits further attention in China and other patrilineal societies.

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Author and article information

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Anushka Ghosh:

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0446-4462

Journal

Journal ID (publisher): gro

Title: GeroPsych

Publisher: Hogrefe AG, Bern

ISSN (Print): 1662-9647

ISSN (Electronic): 1662-971X

Publication date (Electronic): October 7, 2021

Publication date (Print): May 2022

Volume: 35

Issue: 2

Pages: 81-94

Affiliations

[ ¹ ]Biological Anthropology Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, India

Author notes

Anushka Ghosh, Biological Anthropology Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, 203, Barrackpore Trunk Road, R.A. Fisher Bhavan, Kolkata-700108, West Bengal, India anushka.92428@ 123456gmail.com

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Anushka Ghosh https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0446-4462

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ApaID ID: gro_35_2_81

DOI: 10.1024/1662-9647/a000277

SO-VID: 4c396cc5-2981-42eb-9202-ce34f49dc797

History

Date received : September 5, 2020

Date accepted : August 12, 2021

Funding

Funding: The study was conducted on an intramural grant from the Indian Statistical Institute.

Influence of Living Arrangements on the Psychological Health of Older Women in Slums

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Most cited references 54

Development and validation of the Geriatric Anxiety Inventory.

The importance of social support in the associations between psychological distress and somatic health problems and socio-economic factors among older adults living at home: a cross sectional study

Household Context and Subjective Well-Being Among the Oldest Old in China.

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