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(1) Background: The older adult population of society is exposed to multiple stressors daily, such as the loss of loved ones, dysfunctional mobility, financial dependence, and suffering from numerous chronic illnesses. The present study aimed to assess the psychometric properties of the Anxiety about Aging Scale among older adults in Iran. (2) Methods: A sample of 703 community-dwelling older adults was recruited and screened using a standardized tool. The mean age of participants was 69.4 ± 8.1 years. The majority of participants were male (59.2%), married (66.6%), and illiterate (79.7%). A ‘forward-backward’ translation method was used in developing the Iranian version of the AAS for assessing the psychometric properties among older adults. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and the Rasch model were used for construct validity. (3) Results: Applying CFA indicated that the model’s four original factors are the best solution, representing 55% of the total variance. The result of the CFA showed that this four-factor model had a good fit for the data. The findings were also confirmed by Rasch analysis. (4) Conclusions: The Persian version of the AAS is valid and reliable for measuring aging anxiety among Iranian older adults.

Introduction: Mental disorders (depression, anxiety and stress) cause disability and aggravate various diseases, including diabetes mellitus and its common complication such as diabetic nephropathy. Objectives: The current study aimed to investigate the prevalence of mental health disorders (depression, anxiety and stress) and their associated factors among the Iranian older people with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Patients and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 501 subjects with T2DM and 551 subjects without T2DM were selected by a multistage stratified sampling method from Yazd Greater Area, Iran. Delphi method and experts panel were used for selection of priorities of effective factors. The obtained data were analyzed using the chi-square test and Stata software version 14. A P value of ≤0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The prevalence of moderate to severe depression and anxiety was 51.9% and 61.9%, among diabetic, 22% and 33.4% among non-diabetic groups, respectively. According to multiple logistic regression analysis results in diabetics group specified female gender (OR=1.97, 95% CI=1.03-3.75), poor sleep quality (OR=1.08, 95% CI=1.02-1.15), decreased social support (OR=0.89, 95% CI=0.54-1.68), and body mass index (BMI) ≥30 kg/m² (OR=1.6, 95% CI=1.2-5.63) for depression, as well as female gender (OR=2.97, 95% CI=1.5- 5.87), BMI ≥30 kg/m² (OR=2.69, 95% CI=1.22-5.96), and decreased social support (OR=0.87, 95% CI=0.78-0.98) for anxiety as the predicting characteristics. Conclusion: The present research findings revealed a significantly higher prevalence of depression and anxiety in older people with T2DM rather than older people without T2DM. Therefore, appropriate interventions such as screenings and psychiatric evaluations are necessary to diagnose and treat depression and anxiety in this population, especially the females to avoid diabetic complications like diabetic kidney disease.

Objective: The main purpose of this study was the psychometric assessment of Jacelon’s Attributed Dignity Scale among Iranian older population. Methods: Using a standard “forward-backward” translation procedure, the original English version of Jacelon’s Attributed Dignity Scale was translated into Persian. Internal consistency of the scale was checked by the Cronbach’s α coefficient. Convergent validity of the instrument was appraised by the Social Skills Scale and General Health Questionnaire. Factor structure of the Iranian version of Jacelon’s Attributed Dignity Scale and possible interplay between its subscales were checked through recruiting a convenient sample of 300 Iranian older people and performing the confirmatory factor analysis. Findings: The estimated Cronbach’s α and intraclass correlation coefficients for the Iranian version of Jacelon’s Attributed Dignity Scale were in the vicinity of acceptable range, that is, 0.87 and 0.93, respectively. The output of confirmatory factor analysis revealed that a four-factor model best fitted the study data (χ2 = 323.49; df = 129; p < 0.001; comparative fit index = 0.913; Tucker–Lewis index = 0.901; root mean square error approximation = 0.074; standardized root mean square residual = 0.078). Rasch estimates of item difficulty ranged from –1.28 (less difficult) to 1.33 (more difficult). No significant cross-gender differences were observed regarding the Iranian version of Jacelon’s Attributed Dignity Scale’s items indicating its invariant psychometric properties for use in the Iranian men and women subgroups. Ethical Considertaion: This study was approved by the Ethics Committee at the Tabriz university of medical science. Informed consent, information confidentiality, and voluntary participation were guaranteed. Conclusion: The study findings were indicative of applicability of the Iranian version of Jacelon’s Attributed Dignity Scale as a reliable tool in measurement of the perceived social dignity among Iranian and probably other Persian-speaking older populations.

Objectives In consistent with the growing rate of elderly population, the burden of chronic diseases has dramatically increased, and subsequently, the need for long-term care has increased, too. The population rate of elderly women is higher than men, and their admission rate to nursing homes is more than men. The present study explained different reasons for the admission of the elderly women to nursing homes. Methods & Materials In total, 13 participants were recruited through purposive sampling method. Semi-structured face-to-face interviews were applied in this qualitative research. Content analysis was used for data analysis. Results Two key factors were the causes of elderly women living in nursing homes. These factors included ‘underlying reasons’ and ‘situational reasons’. The obtained results indicate that the situational reasons played a dominant role in choosing nursing home care. Older women noted several barriers for the lack of participation in the community and at home. Such factors included financial problems, unwanted marriage, abuse, and neglect. Moreover, falls, accidents, loneliness, and emotional problems were classified as major situational reasons. Conclusion In consistent with the growing rate of elderly women, their burden of care continues to rise. Moreover, elderly abuse will increase in this population due to declining financial resources. This could lead to the sending the elderly people to nursing homes. To prevent these factors and facilitate conditions for families and elderly people to live in their desired place, providing community-based services can be useful.

Background: The current study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Iranian version of the Short Form Health Survey questionnaire (SF-8) using a large sample of elderly in two different groups (diabetes and non-diabetes elderly). Method: 1901 older adults were recruited through a two-level clustered random sampling method, according to WHO STEP guidelines. In order to test reliability, the internal consistency and test_re_test were used. Convergent validity was evaluated by the Average Variance Extracted (AVE) and Composite Reliability (CR) for the entire questionnaire. An independent sample t-test was used to assess the significance of differences across demographic groups. Results: The Cronbach’s alpha for subscales of SF-8 were between 0.79 to 0.85 (physical and mental health). The result of test_re_test indicated appropriate reliability of SF-8. The result of CFA indicated that the 2‐factor model had a good fit to the data for diabetes, non-diabetes groups, and also total participants (GFI=0.983, CFI=0.985, NFI=0.983, IFI=0.985, RMSEA=0.075). The SF-8 also had acceptable convergent and discriminant validity. Conclusion: The present study is the first to confirm the traditional 2-factor structure of SF-8 using a large sample of Iranian older individuals. The results showed that the Iranian version of SF-8 is a reliable and valid tool for measuring HRQOL among Iranian older adults (including diabetes and non-diabetes elderly).

BACKGROUND Older adults may be more prone to death anxiety than their younger counterparts. This study explores factors affecting death anxiety based on gender differences. METHODS In this correlational study, 450 older adults referred to the health centres in the city of Bukan, Iran were recruited by using a randomised sampling method. Next, data were collected about the demographic questionnaire, anxiety about ageing, death anxiety, mental well-being, perceived social support, and quality of life questionnaire. The Spearman correlation coefficient was used to determine the correlation between variables, and the predictors of death anxiety were evaluated using quintile regression. Relationship between death anxiety and other variables was evaluated by the Structural Equation Model (SEM). The study was approved by the Tabriz University of Medical Sciences Ethics Committee (Ethics Code: IR.TBZMED.REC.1397.304). RESULTS The results showed that death anxiety in men had a significant relationship with the level of literacy (P = 0.047), body self-imaging (P = 0.031), and perceived social activity (P = 0.033). Among women, death anxiety had a significant relationship with physical activity (P = 0.007) and perceived social activity (P = 0.002). Additionally, quintile regression analysis was calculated: among men, anxiety about ageing was related to death anxiety (β = 0.182, P = 0.05), while in women, only perceived social support was associated to death anxiety (β = -0.376, P = 0.05). Finally, according to SEM, a significantly different level of predictability of mental well-being was found for death anxiety among older men and women. CONCLUSION Understanding the gender differences about death anxiety by the healthcare system might be useful in controlling and reducing a variety of concerns among elders who experience high levels of anxiety of death.

BackgroundAssessing anxiety in the elderly and the factors affecting this phenomenon will help the health care providers to provide appropriate and effective support and health care services for older adults. The aim of the present study was to assess the psychometric properties of the Aging Scale (AAS) among Persian speaking older adults.Method:A sample of 703 community-dwelling older adults was recruited for the study. A 'forward-backward' translation procedure was conducted to develop the Iranian version of the AAS. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and Rasch model were then used for construct validity, and GHQ-12 and MSPSS were utilized for assessing concurrent validity of the AAS.ResultThe study participants included 416 (59.2%) men and 287 (40.8%) women with an average age of 69.4 years (SD D 8.11). Cronbach’s alpha for Fear of Old People, Psychological Concerns, Physical Appearance, Fear of Losses and the overall score was 0.881, 0.705, 0.748, 0.768 and 0.77, respectively. Applying CFA, it was found that the four original factors model was the best solution with 0.55 of the total variance. The result of the CFA indicated that this four-factor model had a good fit to the data. The results were then confirmed by Rasch analysis. Moreover, the AAS was significantly correlated with MSPSS (r=-0.395, p

The General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) is a self-administered questionnaire to screen and detect individuals with a diagnosable psychiatric disorder. This study was designed to validate the Persian translated version of the short 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) for use with the Iranian elder population.A forward-backward translation method was performed to ensure the quality of the English to Persian translation. A sample of 300 Iranian elder (60 years and over) people was selected from locations known to be frequented by older adults residing in three cities in Iran. Factor of the GHQ-12 was assessed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Internal consistency and test-retest reliability were measured by estimating the Cronbach's alpha and Spearman correlation coefficients, respectively.The study participants included 157 (52.3%) men and 143(47.7%) women with an average age of 66.5 years (SD = 5.5). Cronbach's alpha for Social dysfunction, psychological distress and overall score were 0.80, 0.78 and 0.82, respectively. The test-retest correlation coefficients among two sub-scales of the GHQ-12 as well as the overall scores ranged from 0.84 to 0.93. CFA revealed a good fit for a modified 12-item two-factor structure.The Persian version of the 12-item General Health Questionnaire was found to be valid and reliable for measuring general health of Persian speaking elderly populations.