The effect of religious intervention on depressive symptoms and quality of life among Indonesian elderly in nursing homes: A quasi-experimental study

Purpose This study aimed to investigate the effect of religious intervention on depressive symptoms and quality of life (QOL) among Indonesian elderly in nursing homes (NHs). Patients and methods This was a quasi-experimental study with repeated measures. Sixty elderly residents at three NHs in three districts in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, with the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) score of 5-11 were recruited and purposively assigned to the religious intervention group (combining 36 sessions of listening to Qur'anic recital and 3 sessions of attending a sermon by a preacher, n=30) and the control group (treatment as usual/TAU, n=30). The primary outcome was depression, measured by a short form GDS questionnaire. The QOL as the secondary outcome was assessed by the World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL)-BREF Indonesian version. Both groups were evaluated at the baseline, 4th, 8th, and 12th week after the interventions were performed. Results In both groups, there were statistically significant reductions in depression scores after the 12-week intervention (P<0.001). There was also a statistically significant improvement in QOL mean scores in both intervention and control groups at the 12-week post-intervention. However, the religious intervention group showed a greater decrease in depressive symptoms and a greater improvement in the QOL mean scores than those in the control group. There was a statistically significant difference in geriatric depression and QOL mean scores between groups at the 4th, 8th, and 12th week post-interventions. Conclusions It can be concluded that religious-based intervention has a greater impact on relieving depressive symptoms and increasing the QOL amongst elderly NH residents.