Self-Report Measures of Mood and Morale in Elderly Depressives | The British Journal of Psychiatry | Cambridge Core (original) (raw)

Summary

Two self-report scales of mood and morale were administered to 45 elderly in-patient depressives and 45 non-patient controls, matched for age and sex. The responses of the two groups differed significantly in the predicted direction. When 18 patients from the depressive group were re-tested 6 to 8 weeks later, at discharge, significant declines in self-reported depression, and increases in ‘life-satisfaction’ were reported. Within the depressive group, there was a significant relationship between ‘overt’ depressive behaviour on the ward and self-reporting of greater depressive symptoms, and lower ‘life-satisfaction’. The importance of independent validation of self-report measures of mood and morale in elderly populations is discussed.

Type

Research Article

Copyright

Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1981

References

Bigot, A. (1974) The relevance of American Life satisfaction indices for research on British subjects before and after retirement. Age and Ageing, 3, 113–121.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Blumenthal, M. D. (1975) Measuring depressive symptomatology in a general population. Archives of General Psychiatry, 32, 971–978.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Craig, T. J. & Van Netta, P. A. (1979) Influence of demographic characteristics on two measures of depressive symptoms. Archives of General Psychiatry, 36, 148–153.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Gaitz, C. & Scott, J. (1972) Age and the measurement of mental health. Journal of Health and Social Behaviour, 13, 55–67.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Gurland, B. J. (1976) The comparative frequency of depression in various adult age groups. Journal of Gerontology, 31, 283–292.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Harmatz, J. S. & Shader, R. I. (1975) Psychopharmacologic investigation in healthy elderly volunteers: MMPI Depression Scale. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 23, 350–354.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Harris, L. & (1975) The Myth and Reality of Ageing in America. Washington, D.C.: National Council on the Ageing.Google Scholar

Janke, W. & Baltisson, R. (1979) Critical considerations on methods of assessing emotional and motivational characteristics of old persons. : Brain Function in Old Age (). Berlin: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar

Morris, J. N. Wolf, R. S. & Klerman, L. V. (1975) Common themes among morale and depression scales. Journal of Gerontology, 30, 209–215.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Paykel, E. S. & Prusoff, B. A. (1973) Response set and observer set in the assessment of depressed patients. Psychological Medicine, 3, 209–216.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Schwab, J. J. Holzer, C. E. & Warheit, G. J. (1973) Depressive symptomatology and age. Psychosomatics, 14, 135–141.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Vispo, R. H. (1962) Pre-morbid personality in the functional psychoses of the senium. Journal of Mental Science, 108, 790–799.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Williamson, J. Stokoe, I. H. Gray, S. Fisher, M. Smith, A. McGhee, A. & Stephenson, E. (1964) Old people at home: their unreported needs. Lancet, i, 1117–1120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Zemore, R. & Eames, N. (1979) Psychic and somatic symptoms of depression among young adults, instituionalized aged and non-institutionalized aged. Journal of Gerontology, 34, 716–722.CrossRefGoogle Scholar