The purpose of this study is to find the possibility of spiritual approach in social work practice through investigating the relationship between depression of the elderly and their spirituality from a holistic point of view. This was conducted a questionnaire survey of the elderly(age 60 or older) staying at home. The survey period took place from November 11th through December 21th, and the collected data was processed as descriptive statistics and regression analysis using SPSS WIN 12.0. In short, the analysis results were as follows.
First, in an investigation about the influence of the spirituality(religious well-being, existential well-being) upon anti-vitality factor of depression in the elderly, existential well-being, self-esteem, self-perceived health status, religious well-being, and gender and educational background(graduated from elementary school) among socio-demographic variables showed meaningful differences.
Second, in an investigation about the influence of the spirituality(religious well-being, existential well-being) upon depression factor in the elderly, existential well-being, self-esteem, self-perceived health status, and gender and educational background(uneducated, under elementary school, under middle school) among socio-demographic variables showed meaningful differences.
After all this analysis, existential well-being was found to be the most significant predictor, and the higher existential well-being of the elderly went, the lower depression in them got.
Key words: Depression, Anti-vitality Factor, Depression Factor, Spirituality, Religious Well-being, Existential Well-being