Objective: To investigate the relationships among locomotive syndrome, depressive symptoms, and quality of life in older adults living in rural areas.

Materials and Methods: The present research was a descriptive cross-sectional study. The sample was 160 community-dwelling older people living in sub-districts under the services of five health promoting hospitals located in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The prospective participants were recruited by multi-stage random sampling. They had completed instruments, including The Demographic Questionnaire, The 25-Question Geriatric Locomotive Function Scale, The 15-Item Geriatric Depression Scale, and The World Health Organization Quality of Life Questionnaire in Thai Elderly. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson’s production-moment correlation.

Results: The findings revealed that the locomotive syndrome was found in 50% of participants with the cut-point score of 16 (mean 30.98, SD 14.03), while 26.9% of the participants revealed depressive symptoms (mean 7.07, SD 1.98). The participants had a good quality of life 79.4% (mean 105.12, SD 9.03). There was a positive correlation between locomotive syndrome and depressive symptoms (r=0.47, p<0.01). An inverse correlation was found between the locomotive syndrome and quality of life (r=–0.56, p<0.01) and between depressive symptoms and quality of life (r=–0.46, p<0.01).

Conclusion: Findings from the present study would be useful for the health care providers to design interventions to promote physical function along with psychological well-being.

Keywords: Locomotive syndrome, Depressive symptoms, Quality of life, Older adults

DOI: doi.org/10.35755/jmedassocthai.2020.08.11149

Received 6 Mar 2020 | Revised 12 May 2020 | Accepted 13 May 2020