Determination of older people’s level of loneliness

Abstract

The social and health care systems need to recognise and address loneliness problems amongst older people. It is important to develop and test new interventions aimed at alleviating loneliness.

Factors Related to Loneliness Among the Elderly Living at Home in Turkey

“…16 The loneliness mean score of the elderly living at home and consulted by the Family Healthcare Center was determined to be 51.59 ± 4.44. 17 In other studies investigating loneliness among the elderly, the prevalence of loneliness in the elderly population living at home was determined to range between 11.4% and 64.2% 7,8,16 ; however, this rate was determined to be 19% among the elderly staying in institutions. 16 The loneliness score obtained in the present study was similar to those obtained in previous studies conducted in Turkey, and the results revealed that a large proportion of the elderly had experienced loneliness.…”

“…4 Previous studies showed, that loneliness rates in the elderly Turkish population ranged between 26.3% and 61.8%. 7,8 Loneliness in old age often leads to negative emotions, reduction in the quality of life, poor prognosis, early institutionalization, increases in the provision of social and health services, mental decline and an increased risk of death. 8,9 Therefore, identifying loneliness and the factors associated with loneliness in the elderly will contribute to the enhancement of nursing interventions.…”

“…7,8 Loneliness in old age often leads to negative emotions, reduction in the quality of life, poor prognosis, early institutionalization, increases in the provision of social and health services, mental decline and an increased risk of death. 8,9 Therefore, identifying loneliness and the factors associated with loneliness in the elderly will contribute to the enhancement of nursing interventions. Thus, this cross-sectional descriptive study was designed (a) to collect data that might serve as a theoretical basis for nursing interventions to provide a higher quality of life to elderly people through the identification of loneliness prevalence, and (b) to evaluate the effects of socio-demographic characteristics, health characteristics, life satisfaction, activities of daily living (ADL) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) on loneliness and their correlation among the elderly living at home.…”

El Apoyo Social Y La Soledad De Las Mujeres Mayores Usuarias De Teleasistencia

“…De hecho, se ha detectado que la principal fuente de apoyo informal a los mayores españoles son sus hijos, seguidos del cónyuge (Solé-Auró y Crimmins, 2014). En este sentido, algunos estudios sugieren que las personas mayores sin hijos o con pocos hijos están en mayor riesgo de soledad que aquellas personas con más hijos (Koc, 2012).…”

“…Por un lado, el hecho de que las mujeres sean generalmente más longevas que los hombres contribuye a aumentar la probabilidad de que vivan solas, ya sea por viudedad o por la pérdida de otras personas de su generación (Ferreira-Alves, Magalhães, Viola, y Simões, 2014). Por otro lado, en la medida en que se hacen más mayores, el deterioro de la salud y la mayor probabilidad de tener alguna discapacidad disminuyen sus oportunidades de integración social y consecuentemente les sitúan en un riesgo mayor de sentirse más solas (Koc, 2012).…”