Assessing the general health status (physical and mental) of the elderly at the level of neighborhoods in Region 4 of Rasht city
zahra shabanpour
1
(
Department of Geography and Urban Planning, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran
)
ata ghafarigilandeh
2
(
Professor of Department of Geography and Urban Planning, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran
)
Alireza Mohammadi
3
(
Professor of Department of Geography and Urban Planning, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran
)
Keywords: Elderly, Interpolation, Rasht city, : General Health (physical and mental),
Abstract :
One of the crucial areas in elderly health is mental well-being, which requires special attention and prevention of disorders such as depression and anxiety. Therefore, awareness of the mental health status of the elderly is highly important in planning and policies to provide services and address their needs. Hence, this study was conducted with the aim of assessing the general health status (physical and mental) of the elderly in the neighborhoods of District Four of Rasht city. This research was practical in terms of objective, descriptive-analytical in terms of method, and documentary and survey-based in terms of data collection method. The GHQ-28 questionnaire was used to assess the general health (physical and mental) of the elderly in the study area. The reliability coefficient of this questionnaire, obtained using the Cronbach's alpha method, was 0.73. The population under study consisted of elderly residents in the neighborhoods of District Four of Rasht city, and based on the estimated sample size, 400 elderly individuals residing in these neighborhoods (including 11 districts according to the municipality's division) were selected as the sample for data collection." For the distribution of questionnaires, a systematic sampling method was employed. The collected data were categorized and monitored using SPSS and Excel software. Descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation were utilized, along with the centering tendency index, through interpolation method (IDW) in ArcGIS software. According to the research findings, it can be observed that areas such as Khorsandi (4-4), Paskiab (5-4), Wilcox (6-4), Hafezabad (7-4), and Soleimandarab (9-4) exhibit higher levels of general health disorders among the elderly compared to other areas. Conversely, residents of Manzarieh (11-4) and Electric (10-11) neighborhoods have relatively better general health statuses.