Chronic wounds: why some head and others don't? Psychosocial determinants of wound healing in older people

Chronic wounds are health problems that affect elderly patients as well as health care professionals. Its chronicity, together with its high recurrence rate, creates not only a big challenge to nurses' workload and health cost, but also has a direct impact on elderly patients' physiological and psychosocial well-being. This study explores the psychosocial well-being of elderly patients with chronic wounds and investigates the role of psychosocial factors, if any, in predicting the likelihood of chronic wound healing. The key findings of this study indicated poor psychosocial well-being of elderly patients with chronic wounds and better emotional status had a significant effect in predicting a higher proportion of complete wound healing.