A Study Of Group Work Interventions For Depression Among Elderly People Living Alone In Urban Communities

With the change of traditional family structure towards miniaturization and the large number of social mobility,the aging of Chinese society is deepening,and the proportion of elderly people living alone in the elderly group continues to increase.According to relevant information,the proportion of urban elderly living alone in the urban elderly population reaches 11.23%.They not only face difficulties in life care but also are prone to psychological problems due to living alone and self-care for a long time.By combing the literature,the author found that depression can affect the normal life of the elderly,reduce their mobility and social interaction level;generate sadness,anxiety and other adverse emotions or even lead to depression,which is not conducive to the elderly living peacefully in their old age.From the perspective of social work,the author uses music and games to intervene in the depression of the elderly living alone in urban communities,in order to achieve the effect of relieving depression.The specific research ideas are as follows: First,through a visit to Community C in Chongqing,we found that the elderly living alone in the community may have different degrees of depression.Then,the 20 elderly living alone were divided into an experimental group and a control group according to the principle of random assignment,with 10 in each group,and the experimental group was given a group work intervention while the control group was not given any intervention.At the same time,changes in depressive mood were measured with the aid of the Positive and Negative Affective Scale(PANAS).Finally,after completing eight group activities,the GDS and PANAS were used again for data collection and processing,combined with qualitative analysis to verify the effectiveness of the group work intervention.The analysis of quantitative data from the GDS and PANAS scales combined with qualitative data from interviews,observations,and group recording forms led to the following conclusions: First,the elderly living alone in urban communities have varying degrees of depression,specifically in three areas: psychological,mobility,and social interaction,and these three areas interact with each other.Second,the use of music,games,and crafts in group work can alleviate the depression of the elderly living alone in urban communities.Third,the intervention of group work can effectively increase the positive emotions and reduce the negative emotions of the elderly living alone in urban communities,thus relieving their depression.