Factors associated with depression in institutionalized elders: integrative review

This integrative literature review aimed to assess the scientific knowledge related to factors significantly associated with depressive symptoms in elderly residents in long-stay institutions. The databases Lilacs, Medline and Ibecs were consulted from 2002 to 2012, which provided a twenty articles sample that allowed us to identify six main groups of factors associated with depression among institutionalized elders: sociodemographic, health status, functional ability, behavior, cognition and drugs. It is expected that the results of this review may contribute to the debate on health practices for older people living in institutional ambience.