Association between Mental Health and Healing among Elderly Physical Therapy Patients

Despite their documented successes, mental health interventions are rarely a focus during physical therapy treatments, particularly among the geriatric population. PURPOSE: To measure mental health status and perceived healing among physical therapy patients aged 60 years or older. METHODS: Ten participants (5 males, 5 females) were recruited at a local physical therapy clinic. Three participants (N males=1, M age=67 years, N females=2, M age=80.5 years), were able to complete a modified version of the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item Scale (GAD-7) that included a self-reported healing scale. RESULTS: Female participants reported feeling nervous, worried, and fearful less often than the male participant during physical therapy. The oldest participant reported feeling no anxiety during her physical therapy sessions. CONCLUSION: Findings suggest that gender may be a factor in self-reported mental health measures and perceived healing during physical therapy. Future studies should increase sample size and examine the associations among self-reported anxiety variables and healing among both genders and various geriatric ages during physical therapy