Anxiety Symptoms in Older Home Health Care Recipients: Prevalence and Associates

Abstract

This study examined the prevalence and associates of anxiety symptoms in older home health care recipients (N = 249) who completed structured interviews assessing sociodemographic, cognitive, medical and disability, and psychosocial variables—including anxiety (assessed by the Clinical Anxiety Scale). Mild or moderate anxiety was reported by 3.6% of the sample. No anxiety symptoms whatsoever were reported by 63.9%, while the remaining endorsed at least one symptom. Binary logistic regression analysis revealed that the odds of having any anxiety were elevated among participants who had had a recent fall, OR = 2.81, 95% CI [1.46, 5.43]; and those with major depression, OR = 4.78, 95% CI [1.46, 15.68]. These findings point to the importance of conducting studies to clarify whether the mild severity of anxiety found in this sample is best accounted for by protective factors inherent to the home health care setting or assessment factors that diminish the reporting of anxiety symptoms.

Keywords:

• affective assessment
• gerontology
• home health care
• stress/coping

Acknowledgments

Nimali Jayasinghe, PhD, was supported by T32 MH 073553 (PI: Stephen Bartels) from the National Institute of Mental Health during the writing of this report She is currently supported by K23 MH 090244 and is also recipient of research grant support from Weill Cornell Medical College (“Return to Mobility and Healthy Living in Fall Injury in Later Life: A Monitor with Analyzer for Sensory Feedback for Improvement of Gait and Balance”) and Fidelity Investments, Inc. (“Addressing Late Life Anxiety”). Thomas Sheeran, PhD, was supported by K23 MH 066381 from the National Institute of Mental Health during the writing of this report. The parent study from which data were drawn was part of an Interventions and Practice Research grant funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH; R24 MH 64608; PI: Martha L. Bruce, PhD, MPH). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute of Mental Health. Preliminary analyses of the data on which this report is based were presented in poster form at the March 2007 annual meeting of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, New Orleans, LA. The authors thank anonymous reviewers for comments on an earlier version of this manuscript. They also thank Meenakshi Das Lala, BA, BS, for her assistance with preparing this article.

Notes

Leila P. Rocha is now at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, New York, USA. Thomas Sheeran is now at The Alpert Medical School of Brown University and Rhode Island Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island, USA.