Factors associated with depression among the elderly living in rural Vietnam 2019: Recommendations to remove barriers of psychological service accessibility

Abstract

This cross-sectional study was to identify the prevalence of depression using PHQ-9 scale and perceived barriers to accessing psychological services among the elderly people in a rural district in Hanoi, Vietnam in 2019. More than one-fourth of rural elderly were at high risk of depression (26.1%). Factors related to depression in the elderly were shown statistically significant (p < .05) including personal factors such as gender, education level, participating in social activities, the medical examination in the past 12 months, and family factors such as household economic status, living conditions, and social factors were perceived social support and barriers on accessing mental health services for the elderly. This suggested the importance of routine depression screenings for elderly, and of improving their accessibility to the psychological services.

Keywords:

• Depression
• elderly
• perceived barriers
• rural
• screening
• Vietnam

Acknowledgments

The authors sincerely thank the Chuong My District Health Center and the people for their enthusiastic participation in this study. We would also like to thank the interviewers who contributed to the data collection process.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by a grant from the Hanoi University of Public Health, Vietnam.