Depressive Symptoms and Treatment Outcome in Geriatric Rehabilitation

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Little is known, from an empirical perspective, about the factors that mediate the relationship between rehabilitation potential and rehabilitation performance in geriatric patients. It has been suggested that depression may be a key factor. This study was conducted on an inpatient geriatric rehabilitation unit to investigate the relationships among mental status, depressive symptoms, and functional status at three different points in the rehabilitation process: admission, discharge, and follow up. Results provide empirical evidence that depressive symptoms are negatively related to treatment outcome in geriatric rehabilitation. Furthermore, the relationship between depressive symptoms on treatment outcome was significant independent of patients' mental status and their functional status at admission. Postdischarge follow up revealed that gains in mental status and functional status achieved by discharge were maintained by follow up, while gains made in emotional functioning were not. The clinical implications of these findings are discussed.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: