Tai Chi Therapy's Effectiveness on Depression and Quality of Life in Elderly Residents of Old Age Homes in Kanyakumari District, Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract

Growing older is the process of ageing. If we can make sure that we are lengthening life in the middle and not simply at the end, older people will live longer and in better health. The “longevity dividend” might be substantial for the societies that adapt to this shifting demography and invest in healthy ageing (WHO). Due to the socio-demographic changes, older adults at times are forced to transit from their own place of residence to some institutions named as old age homes. Because of the cumulative effect of many risk factors, such as chronic sickness and solitude, older persons are more likely to acquire mental health issues. Depression is often recognized in older peoples and reduce a person’s quality of life and their relationships with friends and family. Tai Chi therapy, one of the complementary and alternative therapies, has no side effects when compared with the modern medical treatment. Nurses play a vital role in such therapies. This study aimed to explore the effectiveness of Tai Chi therapy to reduce the depression and improve the quality of life among the elderly. Quasi experimental Pre-test and Post-test control group design was used. The study was conducted in the Rojavanam Senior Citizen Care Centre, DM home for the aged and Sinegam Petoor Illam, at Kanyakumari district, Tamil Nadu. Purposive sampling technique was used to select the samples. Total of 300 elderly were selected using inclusion and exclusion criteria (study group 150 and control group 150) who were residing in old age homes. Tools used to assess depression and quality of life were Geriatric Depression Scale and WHO Quality of life BREF four-point Likert scales. The conceptual framework was based on Goal Attainment Theory by Imogene King (1981). Tai Chi therapy was administered to the elderly for 1 h as 46 sessions for 24 weeks. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data. Results: Tai chi therapy was effective in reducing depression and improving elderly quality of life which is shown through a comparison of depression pre-test t=0.62, P>0.001, post-test t=8.72 P<0.001. Quality of life pre-test post-test comparison t=1.44, P>0.001, post-test t=9.50 P<0.001. Karl Pearson’s co-efficient of correlation analysis between the level of Depression and Quality of life among elderly post-test scores shows a significant relationship which reveals that when the level of depression decreases, the quality-of-life increases. The ‘r’ value was –0.756. This is a positive impact on this study. Study findings conclude that Tai chi therapy was effective in reducing depression and improve quality of life among the elderly