The Fatigue and Related Factors among Community-Dwelling Elders

• Main Authors: Shang-Hsiang Yang, 楊尚香
• Other Authors: I-Ju Chen
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2010
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/27082160460042928631

碩士 === 國立陽明大學 === 臨床暨社區護理研究所 === 98 === The study indicated that about 27%- 50% of community-dwelling elders complain of moderate to severe level of fatigue. Fatigue exist in people who suffer from acute and chronic diseases and healthy people in daily lives, and than affect quality of life. For individuals and society the invisible costs of medical expenses is difficult to estimate. The purpose of this study was to explore the fatigue and related factors among community-dwelling elders. A descriptive and correlation study design was used. Using purposive sampling, we recruited 95 subjects from three clinics in Chingshui. The data was collected by interviewers with structural questionnaires including demographic data, perceived health status, Geriatric Depression Scale-Short Form, Modified Baecke Questionnaire-Chinese version and Brief Fatigue Inventory-Taiwan Form. 49.5﹪of subjects experienced fatigue.Woman, hypertension, arthritis, the number of chronic diseases, elders with experience of taking sedation medicine, the number of medication category, perceived health status, depression and physical activity were indentified as the factors of fatigue. Stepwise regression analysis revealed that woman, perceived health status and depression could explain 53.3％ of variance of fatigue. Base on our findings we suggested that assessment of fatigue should be part of the routine evaluation procedures used with elders to improving depression promote quality of life.