An Exploratory Study Of The Tree-Drawing Test In Depression Screening Of The Elderly In The Community

Background In recent years,the number of the elderly with depressive symptoms has shown a steady upward trend,especially the prevalence of mild depressive symptoms is high,which has become an important threat to the physical and mental health of the elderly.How to effectively prevent and control the elderly depression has become the focus of many scholars.At present,most researchers test the psychological and pathological characteristics of depression patients through the scale.In addition,some scholars use projection technology?such as rorschach ink test,thematic apperception test,room tree test,the tree-drawing test?to show the deeper psychological state of individual depression in the heart.The tree-drawing test was conducted by Swiss psychologist Charles Koch,1952.This method is an important tool to test personality characteristics.By giving a theme"please draw a tree",the subjects can create on A4paper according to the theme and requirements,so as to analyze the personality characteristics,self-worth and mental health water of the subjects according to the size,position,pen strength,gray degree of the picture,smoothness of lines and other indicators drawn by the painters equality.Compared with other subjective projection tests,the tree-drawing test can also show people's internal psychological and emotional state.At present,the tree-drawing test has been used in many fields,such as psychological evaluation and treatment,diagnosis of schizophrenia,suicide screening,personality evaluation,IQ and EQ measurement,etc.,but there are few researches on depression screening,especially in the elderly depression screening.In this study,we will use the elderly depression scale?GDS-15?and the technique of the tree-drawing test to make qualitative and quantitative analysis on the results of the tree-drawing test for the elderly in the community.In addition,logistic regression analysis was used to establish the screening equation of the tree-drawing test for depression in the elderly,to explore a new method for depression screening in the elderly,so as to provide a new idea for depression screening and diagnosis of the elderly in the community and hospital.Objective By comparing the qualitative and quantitative indexes of the tree-drawing test between the elderly with different degree of depression and the normal elderly,the prediction equation of the tree-drawing test on the depression of the elderly was established,and the application of the tree-drawing test in the depression screening of the elderly in the community was explored to provide a possible basis for the depression screening and diagnosis of the elderly.Methods Taking the elderly in a community in southern Jiangsu Province as the research object,160 cases of elderly were randomly selected to classify their depression symptoms by using the general information questionnaire and the elderly depression scale?GDS-15?.On this basis,the elderly in the community were mainly tested by tree drawing.Firstly,the image of the collected samples is identified by a scanner,and the"root area","trunk area","crown area"and other indicators in the tree drawing are extracted and calculated by the tree-drawing test software.Then the various indicators of the tree-drawing test of the community elderly are qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed,and the tree occupation area is taken as an important indicator to measure psychological energy.This study is the first time to apply quantitative research to the evaluation of the results of the tree-drawing test for the elderly.In addition,the screening equation of the tree-drawing test for depression in the elderly was established by logistic regression analysis,and a method of detecting depression symptoms in the elderly based on the tree-drawing test?TDT?was proposed in order to provide a new idea for depression screening and diagnosis of the elderly in the community.Results?1?there were significant differences in the width,height and width of the whole tree between the normal group,the mild depression group and the moderate and severe depression group?P<0.05?.The sensitivity and specificity of depression were72.3%and 81.7%when the critical value was 40S(The AUC was 0.79?P<0.01?.?2?Among the 11 painting characteristics of the tree painting test,there were significant differences between the depression group and the normal group in seven painting characteristics:crown area,trunk area,total tree area,total tree height,crown height,crown width and trunk width.At the same time,the five painting characteristics of crown area,trunk area,total area,total height and trunk width enter the regression equation.The regression equation is:ln?y=0/y=1?=2.877-3.186X₁-3.085X₂+3.2X₄-0.298X₈-0.978X₁₀?R²=0.624,P<0.01?.Conclusion This study introduces the research situation of the tree-drawing test at home and abroad.Through the study of tree drawing test for elderly depression patients in the community,it is found that there are statistically significant differences between the mild and moderate depression group and the normal group in the aspects of crown,trunk,total area of trees,etc.In addition,this study conducted in-depth analysis and research on the painting characteristics of the painting tree test of the elderly depression patients in the community,and established the logistic regression equation.The accuracy of the prediction results is high,and it has acceptable reliability and validity,which can be used as a tool for screening depression symptoms of the elderly in the community.However,this study has carried out a preliminary quantitative and predictive model study on the some tree drawing features,and the results may have shortcomings.Therefore,the follow-up research can expand the sample size,explore whether there are differences in the classification of mental disorders,and then continuously improve and deepen the quantitative and predictive model research of tree drawing test,in order to provide quantitative auxiliary means for the diagnosis of depression and other mental diseases,and better service for clinical patients.