title: The effects of depressive symptoms on quality of life among institutionalized older adults in Taiwan.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explore the effect of physical health status and depressive symptoms on quality of life (QOL) and to examine whether depressive symptoms mediate the effect of physical health status on the physical and mental components of QOL among institutionalized older adults.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study was used to assess 306 residents from 73 long-term care facilities in Taipei, Taiwan.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found that depressive symptoms mediated the relationship between the number of chronic diseases and activities of daily living and physical components of QOL (z = -2.41, p = .016; z = 3.33, p < .001) as well as between the number of chronic diseases and mental components of QOL (z = -2.45, p = .014).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings indicate that alleviating depressive symptoms can improve the QOL of older adults in long-term care facilities.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Clinical and Community Health Nursing, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: I-Chuan
authors.initials: IC
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Huai-Ting
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Kuo
authors.forename: Kuan-Chia
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Yi-Chen
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Wu
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006707:Homes for the Aged; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009735:Nursing Homes; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D013624:Taiwan
keywords: Depressive symptoms; mediating factors; quality of life