Home visits by commissioned welfare volunteers and psychological distress: a population-based study of 11,312 community-dwelling older people in Japan.
OBJECTIVE
Novel countermeasures to increase healthcare expenditures should be explored in rapidly aging societies, including Japan. Social support is a resource for the older people that effectively reduces psychological distress, with or without specialized health service provision. This cross-sectional study was conducted to determine whether home visits by commissioned welfare volunteers (organizations of community residents assigned by national or local governments) are associated with a lower risk of psychological distress among the older people.


METHODS
Questionnaires were sent in August 2010 to all residents aged ≥65 years in three municipalities (n = 21,232) in Okayama Prefecture in Japan; 13,929 were returned (response rate = 65.6%). The final sample size for the analysis was 11,312 participants. Home visits, psychological distress (Kessler Psychological Distress Scale: K6 > 5), and severe psychological distress (K6 > 13) were measured by the questionnaire. We calculated odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for psychological distress, adjusting for age, gender, education, marital status, and qualification for long-term care insurance.


RESULTS
The prevalence was 41.4% for psychological distress and 6.5% for severe psychological distress among all participants. Home visits were significantly associated with a lower risk of psychological distress after adjusting for the covariates (OR: 0.71, 95% CI: 0.65-0.77). These associations were comparable for men and women. The association was clearer for severe psychological distress (OR: 0.51, 95% CI: 0.43-0.61).


CONCLUSIONS
Home visits by commissioned welfare volunteers are significantly associated with a lower risk of psychological distress among older people.
Okayama Prefectural Mental Health and Welfare Center, Okayama, Japan.
Masayuki
M
Noguchi
Support Center for Medical Cooperation, Human Resource Placement, and Career Promotion of Okayama Prefecture, Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama University, Okayama, Japan.
Toshihide
T
Iwase
Department of Epidemiology, Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama University, Okayama, Japan.
Etsuji
E
Suzuki
Department of Epidemiology, Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama University, Okayama, Japan.
Soshi
S
Takao
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006299:Health Services for the Aged / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006792:House Calls; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D016017:Odds Ratio; D015995:Prevalence; D012944:Social Support; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K6); commissioned welfare volunteers (CWVs); older people; psychological distress; social support