Relations among Depression, Life Satisfaction and Health Promoting Behavior in the Elderly

Abstract

Purpose:The purposes of thisstudy were to examinethe relations amongdepression, lifesatisfactionandhealth promoting behavior, andtofindfactors relatedwithhealthpromotingbehavior. Methods:The subjects were 198 elderly people of over 65 living in K City andS City. Datawere collected through a structured questionnaire and analyzedbySPSS/WIN13.0. Results:Healthpromotingbehavior wassignificantlydifferentaccordingtoreligion, education level, livingwithfamily, previous job, pocket money, subjectivelyeconomic level, andleisure activities. Depression was significantly different according to education level, living with family, pocket money, economic level, andleisureactivities. And lifesatisfaction was significantlydifferent according toreligion, living with family, and pocket money. The variables that affected the degree of health promoting behavior were depression, life satisfaction and living with family, and they represented 29.7% of health promoting behavior. Conclusion: The health promoting behavior of the subjects was better than average and, at the same time, the lower depression in the healthpromotingbehavior was thehigher life satisfaction was. Therefore, inorder todecreasedepression and to increase life satisfaction, the development of advanced healthpromotingprograms will behelpful tolead health life for the elderly people.