Sexuality and its effects on older adults' depressive symptoms and quality of life

• Published in: Revista Brasileira de Enfermagem Vol. 76; no. 1; pp. e20210645 - 7
• Main Authors: Souza Júnior, Edison Vitório de, Cruz, Diego Pires, Siqueira, Lais Reis, Pirôpo, Uanderson Silva, Rosa, Randson Souza, Silva Filho, Benedito Fernandes da, Sawada, Namie Okino
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Brazil Associação Brasileira de Enfermagem 2023
• Subjects: Aged; Aging; Cross-Sectional Studies; Data collection; Depression; Depression - complications; Depression - psychology; Geriatric psychology; Health of the Elderly; Humans; Medical personnel; Mental depression; Mental health; Older people; Original; Physiology; Primary care; Quality of Life; Questionnaires; Sexual Behavior; Sexuality; Sexuality - psychology
• ISSN: 0034-7167; 1984-0446
• DOI: 10.1590/0034-7167-2021-0645

to analyze the effects of sexuality on depressive symptoms and quality of life in older adults. a cross-sectional and analytical study, developed with 596 older adults, who completed four instruments for data collection. Data were analyzed using the Kruskal-Wallis test and Structural Equation Modeling, with a 95% Confidence Interval. among the sexuality dimensions, only physical and social adversities exerted statistically significant effects on depressive symptoms (SC=-0.095; p=0.003), but with low magnitude. Moreover, all sexuality dimensions had statistically significant effects on quality of life, being of low magnitude for sexual act (SC=0.171; p=0.010) and for physical and social adversities (SC=0.228; p<0.001), and moderate magnitude for affective relationships (SC=0.474; p<0.001). effects of different magnitudes were observed between sexuality dimensions on participants' depressive symptoms and quality of life.