The purpose of this study was investigate the relationships among perceived social support, instrumental support needs, and depression of healthy, community dwelling elderly women.

This study was designed to examine whether the perceived social support and instrumental support were correlated with depression in elderly women. Data were cross-sectional and community-dwelling elderly individuals. The subject was 98 elderly women recruited from Elderly Welfare Center and Community center for Elderly. The instruments for this study were Personal Resource Questionnaire-part II, Geriatric Depression Scale (Short Form), and Instrumental Support Activities Checklist. Data were gathered by means of structured personal interviews. The internal consistency of the instruments was relatively good.

The participants' perceived social support was moderately high and instrumental support needs was low. Depression was mild and moderate relatively. The correlation analysis showed that the perceived social support was negatively related to depression and negatively related with instrumental support needs.

The findings suggested that more perceived social support, less their depressive symptom in elderly women. It also revealed that the age, marital status, and socioeconomic status of elderly women also are important indicator of the elderly depression. Therefore nursing assessment and the design of intervention that incorporate the determinants supported in this study, such as perceived social support of the elderly women are needed in adopting and maintain health promoting lifestyle for the mental health and effective functioning in later life in women.