Age and health perceptions of psychogeriatric patients.

Abstract

How the elderly perceive themselves has interested gerontologists for some time. Younger age perceptions have been associated with better psychological functioning or emotional adjustment. Most researchers and professionals agree that an important component of 'emotional adjustment' or 'mental health' is life satisfaction. Because of this consensus, numerous studies and papers have been written on life satisfaction in the elderly. In general, these studies have found significant correlations between life satisfaction and health, and despite the relative stability of life satisfaction, it can be affected by life events. While most studies have dealt with the 'healthy' elderly, there is little if any literature on elderly hospitalized psychiatric patients. This study explores age biases, health and age perceptions, as well as life satisfaction over the course of psychiatric hospitalization for geriatric patients. A questionnaire was developed to elicit age and health perceptions of psychogeriatric patients. The questionnaire was piloted with 17 geriatric patients admitted to the Geriatric Day Treatment Center. The questionnaire was administered to 24 patients admitted to the inpatient service of the Department of Geriatric Psychiatry during the first week of admission and on the week of discharge. The results of this study may help us with the educational needs of psychogeriatric patients regarding the normal aging process, as well as increase understanding of the effects of psychiatric illness on perceived age, health and life satisfaction in the geriatric population.