title: Family functioning and social support for older patients with depression in an urban area of Shanghai, China.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Geriatric 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.
  
  
  METHODS
  This 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.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The 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.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The 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.
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Shanghai East Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200092, China. liwangjk@gmail.com
authors: Jikun
authors: J
authors: Wang
authors: Xudong
authors: X
authors: Zhao
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002681:China; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017533:Marital Status; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012944:Social Support; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014505:Urban Population