Jodi Shapuras and Lindsay Egan, undergraduate students in the social work program at ISU, conducted the research at their internships as part of a senior-level field practicum class.
“We are both interested in working with the elderly population in our careers, so we conducted this research to get a better feel for the prevalence of depression in those who need some level of outside care,” said Shapuras of Mitchell, Ind. “As social workers, it is important to understand the mental health issues, such as depression, within the different care settings.”
Shapuras and Egan said they weren’t surprised by their findings.
“We actually hypothesized that the long-term care patients would utilize antidepressants more and would self-report depression more,” said Egan of Terre Haute, Ind. “When an individual moves to a long-term care facility, they undergo a tremendous amount of changes. They are no longer able to live independently and are relying on others for care, and this greatly affects how they feel about themselves and the world around them.”
Shapuras added that in the home-care setting, elders are still residing within a familiar environment.
