わが国の看護学領域における高齢者のうつに関する研究の動向と課題─2003〜2012年の検索結果を中心に

Trends and Issues in Nursing Research in Japan Focusing on Depression among the Elderly:Based on Results of Literature Published from 2003 to 2012

抄録

　本研究は，わが国の看護学領域における高齢者のうつに関する研究動向の明確化と，今後の課題検討を目的として行った．医学中央雑誌Web版（2003〜2012年）から得られた文献中125件を分析対象とした．文献は全体を概観するためにマトリックス方式を用いて整理した．この結果うつは症状，状態，病気の区別をしていない「うつ」や「抑うつ」が多く使用されていた．対象者および協力者は「地域在住高齢者」が最も多く，次に「施設入所高齢者」などで「入院高齢患者」を対象とした研究はわずかであった．研究の焦点では，【効果を検証するためのうつ】（介入効果の指標，尺度検証の指標）と【実態を把握するためのうつ】（うつの関連要因，高齢者のうつの特徴）が抽出された．一般病院に入院している高齢患者のうつ病性障害の有病率が高い状況を鑑みると，入院時のうつ状態やうつ病併発を早期に判断できる研究や，予防的看護介入研究の充実を図る必要がある．

　This study is a literature review to identify issues in nursing research in Japan focusing on depression among the elderly, and to identify issues that need to be addressed. We searched literature published from 2003 to 2012 in the Ichushi Web database, and selected 125 articles for further analysis. We used the Matrix Method to organize an overview of the articles. The terms ‘Utsu’ and ‘Yoku-utsu’ were employed to describe depression in many articles without distinguishing symptoms, states, and illnesses. For the subjects of the research, ‘elderly living in the community’ was the most frequently employed term followed by ‘elderly residents in institutions’, and few articles employed terms like ‘hospitalized elderly patients’. For further research, we searched with “Verification of depression evaluations” (indexes for intervention effects and scale verification) and “Depression as an index to understand the conditions of the elderly” (factors related to depression and characteristics of depression among the elderly). Considering the high incidence of depression-related disorders among elderly patients hospitalized in general wards, it is necessary to develop and conduct nursing studies of proactive interventions as well as studies to enable early detection of depressed states and depression as a complication for elderly inpatients.