Psychoemotional needs of hospitalized elderly in the public sector; Necesidades psicoemocionales del anciano hospitalizado en el sector público
In: Revista de sanidad militar: organo oficial de la Dirección General de Sanidad Militar, Band 72, Heft 3-4, S. 223-230
The psycho-emotional needs of the
elderly are a topic that has gained recent interest;
related studies refer to the link between psychoemotional
problems and the quality of life of the elderly. The
objective was to determine the most frequent
psychoemotional needs of elderly people in hospital (EPIH)
in the public sector. A quantitative, descriptive,
non-experimental, cross-sectional study of 49 elderly
people. The results indicated low levels of anxiety (68%)
and depression (98%), high levels of social support (89%)
and quality of life (98%), and average self-esteem (92%).
Positive correlation was observed between anxiety and
depression (r = 0.547 p = 0.000), as well as negative
correlation between depression, self-esteem and quality of
life (r = 0.579 p = 0.000 and r = 0.399 p = 0.005).
Depression varied in 33.5% (r2) of cases due to variation
in self-esteem. We conclude that the most frequent
psychoemotional need is to strengthen self-esteem and
reduce anxiety, especially in women (52.38% with moderate
or severe levels). First-level psychological support and
the use of a battery for rapid screening by health
personnel is proposed.