ภาวะซึมเศร้า ความเหนื่อยล้า และความสามารถทางกายของผู้สูงอายุข้อเข่าเสื่อม: การศึกษาความสัมพันธ์

This descriptive correlational study aimed to examine the relationship among depression, fatigue, and physical performance in older adults with knee osteoarthritis. The participants were 144 older adults with knee osteoarthritis who met the inclusion criteria including age 60 years or older, not having cognitive impairment, and being active members of six senior citizens clubs located in Bangkok. The research instruments were 1) Personal data questionnaire, 2) The Multidimensional Assessment of  Fatigue, 3) the Geriatric Depression Scale-15, and 4) Time Up & Go Test. Data were collected from August to November 2017 and were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficients and Spearman’s rank correlation coefficients. The results indicated that 29.90% of participants had depressive symptom (n = 43), and they had mild fatigue with mean score of 18.14 (SD = 8.66) and had slightly low physical performance of time get up and go test with mean of 12.60 seconds (SD = 2.22). A small positive correlation was found between   depression and physical performance. Moderate positive correlations were found between fatigue and depressive symptom and between fatigue and physical performance respectively. The findings of this study emphasized the complexity of psychosocial problems in older adults with knee osteoarthritis by explaining the relationships among depression, fatigue, and physical performance. This information will be beneficial not only to initiate an intervention for alleviating psychosocial problems, but also to promote physical performance for delaying  dependency and enhancing quality of life in older adults with knee osteoarthritis.