Cognitive and Affective Disorder Among the Elderly in Assisted Living Facilities in Klang Valley, Malaysia

Abstract

This research was conducted in privately-run assisted living facilities for the elderly in the Klang Valley, Malaysia to screen for cognitive disorder using the Mini-Cog assessment and affective disorder using the Patient Health Questionnaire-2. Besides finding the incidences of these disorders as well as the gender and race distribution among the sample, this research also aimed to find the association between cognitive and affective disorder with two factors; level of education and frequency of visits from family and/or friends for the past 2 years. This cross-sectional study managed to obtain consent to interview a total of 591 residents out of which 43 (7.2%) are found to be positive for cognitive impairment and 188 (31.8%) are found to be have depressive disorder. Among the 43 residents with cognitive disorder, a majority of 16 (37.2%) did not receive any formal education and the same number also did not receive any visits from family and/or friends. Among the 188 residents with depressive disorder, a majority of 64 (34%) received secondary education and a majority of 65 (34.6%) received monthly visits from family and/or friends. There are positive associations between cognitive disorder and level of education as well as frequency of visits from family and/or friends. But interestingly, there are no associations between depressive disorder and level of education as well as frequency of visits. The reasons behind these figures will be further explored in this paper along with possible intervention methods.

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Author Information
Nadia Mohamad Hatta, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia
Eliza Abdul Aziz, Ministry of Health, Malaysia
Sook Fan Yap, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia

• Category: ECP2018

Posted by James Alexander Gordon

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