ABSTRACT
Depression is the most prevalent mental illness among the elderly. Researchers have tried to find cost-effective, time-efficient ways to treat depression for the elderly. Social activity was found to decrease depressive symptoms in the elderly while keeping costs low and helping many people at a time. However, these studies fail to show who is impacted by which social activities. This study was done to find how much social interaction would affect nursing home residents’ mood and level of extroversion from the caregivers’ perspective. Additionally, this research aimed to compare residents’ enjoyment of specific social activities and their frequency of attendance. Aspects such as age and gender were also recorded in these findings. In this study, 10 nursing home caregivers filled out a survey regarding 5 of their residents. According to the caregivers, social activity increases positive mood and extraversion characteristics in nursing home residents. Additionally, the study showed that activities such as baking, book clubs, card games and movie nights are all favorable among most nursing home residents. Movie nights received the highest rating of enjoyment with card games as a close second. Finally, the study found that age and gender does not impact a resident’s frequency of attending social activity. Future research should include a larger sample size and aim to get answers directly from the nursing home residents. The survey should include more activity options and inquire about the resident’s personality type. This study aided in displaying the importance of social activity for nursing home residents’ mood. Additional research could benefit the well-being and care of nursing home residents greatly.