Απασχόληση και κατάθλιψη σε άτομα ηλικίας 50+ στην Ελλάδα και στην Ευρώπη
Employment and depression among persons aged 50+ in Greece and Europe

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Keywords
Κατάθλιψη ; Εργασιακό άγχος ; Σύνδρομο επαγγελματικής εξουθένωσης (job burnout) ; Περιγραφική ανάλυση ; Στατιστική ανάλυση ; Δίτιμη Λογιστική ΠαλινδρόμησηAbstract
Depression is the most important mental illness in this day and age. While its existence has been widespread since ancient times, according to historical sources, today millions of people worldwide are being afflicted with depressive disorders. In addition, it is known that depression tends to be a major cause of morbidity in the elderly, affecting their daily lives and leading them to marginalization and stigmatization. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the associations of certain occupational and demographic factors, health related variables and socio-economic level with depression, among people who are 50 years or more across Greece and Europe. Our analysis is based on data of the second wave of the interdisciplinary and longitudinal Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). The first chapter includes important information on the different types of depression as they emerged through the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV), while the second chapter presents the depression disorder among the elderly. In particular, in chapter 2 are mentioned the risk factors, the symptomatology, the prevalence, the consequences, as well as the appropriate ways the older adults can deal with depression . At the same time, a concise reference is made to all those factors that contribute to the emergence of clinical depression. The third chapter separates the concepts of "work anxiety" and "professional burnout", while emphasizing the impact of the burnout syndrome on all aspects of a person's life and especially on mental health. Chapter 4 contains the descriptive analysis of the data provided through the second wave of SHARE. The analysis includes fourteen countries and its main finding is the one described above: the majority of the sample that has taken part in this research feels healthy, judging the level of its physical and mental health as satisfactory. That means that it does not suffer from a serious chronic disease, mobility restriction or mental illness which impedes its autonomy and functionality. The fifth chapter investigates whether and to what extent depression is associated with a variety of demographic, socio-economic, occupational factors and morbidity factors, noting that poor physical health, chronic illnesses, mobility constraints etc., contribute in a significant way to the onset of depression. Last but not least, chapter 6 explores the effect of all the aforementioned factors on the appearance or not of depression with the most important results being included in the seventh chapter where it appears that gender, marital status, the satisfaction or not that a person draws from his working environment, as well as his desire for early retirement are only some of the factors that affect the occurrence of this mental illness.