Family functioning and social support for older patients with depression in an urban area of Shanghai, China

PurposeGeriatric depression is now very common and leads to significant economic costs and family burden in China. Families with a depressed patient often report problematic family functioning in Western samples, and lack of social support is strongly associated with geriatric depression. However, the relationship between geriatric depression, family functioning and social support in mainland China has not been well studied.Materials and methodsThis study compared family functioning and social support in a Chinese sample of elderly patients with major depression and non-depressed elderly people, and evaluated the impact of family functioning, social support and socio-demographic factors on depression. A questionnaire was administered to 102 elderly patients with major depression and 107 non-depressed elderly people.ResultsThe elderly patients with major depression had worse family functioning and lower social support than elderly individuals without depression. Multivariate linear regression analysis showed associations between depressive symptoms and unhealthy family functioning, lower social support and single marital status.ConclusionsThe findings suggest that family interventions and improvement of social support are important in reducing depression among elderly patients. In addition, strategies to alleviate geriatric depression should be considered by the whole society, the community, family members and the depressed elderly patients themselves.