The effect of religious intervention on depressive symptoms and quality of life among indonesian elderly in nursing homes: A quasi-experimental study

Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the effect of religious intervention on depressive symptoms and quality of life (QOL) among Indonesian elderly in nursing homes (NHs). Patients and methods: This was a quasi-experimental study with repeated measures. Sixty elderly residents at three NHs in three districts in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, with the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) score of 5-11 were recruited and purposively assigned to the religious intervention group (combining 36 sessions of listening to Qur’anic recital and 3 sessions of attending a sermon by a preacher, n=30) and the control group (treatment as usual/TAU, n=30). The primary outcome was depression, measured by a short form GDS questionnaire. The QOL as the secondary outcome was assessed by the World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL)-BREF Indonesian version. Both groups were evaluated at the baseline, 4th, 8th, and 12th week after the interventions were performed. Results: In both groups, there were statistically significant reductions in depression scores after the 12-week intervention (P<0.001). There was also a statistically significant improvement in QOL mean scores in both intervention and control groups at the 12-week post-intervention. However, the religious intervention group showed a greater decrease in depressive symptoms and a greater improvement in the QOL mean scores than those in the control group. There was a statistically significant difference in geriatric depression and QOL mean scores between groups at the 4th, 8th, and 12th week post-interventions. Conclusions: It can be concluded that religious-based intervention has a greater impact on relieving depressive symptoms and increasing the QOL amongst elderly NH residents.