台灣高齡者旅遊行為與憂鬱風險之研究

Abstract

憂鬱症狀對於高齡者的身心健康會產生負面的影響，除增加自殺及失能的風險外，進而產生照護及社會醫療的成本。而從事旅遊行為可為促進高齡者生理、心理及社會層面健康的重要策略之一，然而國內目前探討高齡者旅遊行為及憂鬱風險之相關文獻卻付之闕如。據此，本研究之目的為 (1) 瞭解臺灣高齡者旅遊行為與憂鬱的現況。(2) 探討臺灣高齡者人口學變項與旅遊行為的關聯性。(3) 探討臺灣高齡者旅遊行為與憂鬱風險的關聯性。本研究採用橫斷式調查法，以電腦輔助電話訪問的方式，蒐集臺灣高齡者旅遊行為、憂鬱症狀 (流行病學研究中心憂鬱量表)，以及社會人口學變項，共取得1,068份有效樣本，並以描述性統計、卡方檢定與二元邏輯斯迴歸進行分析。研究結果發現：(1) 研究對象過去一年之內有旅遊經驗者有佔總樣本數的69.9%；而有憂鬱狀態的高齡者則佔總樣本數的8.3%。(2) 研究對象年齡在「75歲以上」、性別為「男性」、教育程度「較低」以及體位為「過輕者」呈現較低的旅遊行為。(3) 「有旅遊」的高齡者之憂鬱風險顯著低於「無旅遊」的高齡者；而高齡者無論是從事國內或是國外旅遊，皆有較低的憂鬱風險；此外，與「旅遊頻率為0」的高齡者相比，旅遊頻率為「低 (1-2次)」、「中 (3-5次)」、「高 (6次以上)」的族群皆有較低的憂鬱風險；最後，與花費旅遊經費「較低的族群」相比，花費為「中等」及「較高」的族群同樣有較低的憂鬱風險。本研究之結果建議未來有關單位可推動高齡者多從事旅遊活動，以做為高齡憂鬱預防的重要策略。Depressive symptom leads to a negative health impact on older adults, which increases the risks of suicide and disability, as well as increased cost of healthcare and medical expenditure. Traveling is a promising strategy to promote older adults’ physical, mental and social health. However, there is a lack of evidence on the relationship between traveling behavior and depressive symptoms in Taiwanese older adults. Therefore, the aims of this study are (1) to describe the prevalence of traveling behavior and depressive symptoms, (2) to examine the association between sociodemographic factors and traveling behavior, (3) to explore the relationship between traveling behavior and depressive symptoms in Taiwanese older adults. A telephone-based cross-sectional survey targeting older Taiwanese adults was conducted in 2019-2020. Data on traveling behavior, depressive symptoms, and socio-demographic variables were obtained from 1,068 older adults. was then performed. Descriptive statistics, chi-square test, and adjusted binary logistic regression were performed by using IBM SPSS 23.0. The results showed that (1) 69.9% of the participants had traveling experience in the past year, and 8.3 % of them had depressive symptoms. (2) Participants who were 75 years or older, male, with lower education levels and underweight were less likely to engage in traveling behavior. (3) After adjusting for potential confounders, older adults who had traveling experience were less likely to be depressive compared with those who had not. Older adults who traveled to either domestic or aboard destinations, lower risks of depression were still observed in comparison of none. Moreover, older adults who had low, median or high frequency of traveling were less likely to have depressive symptoms, as well as median or higher expense were also associated with low depressive risks compared with low. The results of this study suggest that government or authority can promote older adults to attend traveling, for the prevention of geriatric depression.