Mental Health of Elders in Retirement Communities: Is Loneliness a Key Factor?

Psycho-Emotional Aspects and Risk Factors Associated with the Onerous Nature of Retirement Concerning Civil Servants within the Public Administration in Parakou (Benin)

“…One of the determinants of pensioners' anxiety was the abandon by their family, their former friends from their socio-professional environment. This feeling of loneliness is also observed by Bekhet et al [14] in 2012, who showed that it significantly influences the state of anxiety. The more an individual feels lonely, the more he is anxious.…”

“…These same authors point out that the prevalence of anxiety disorders is as high as mood disorders and that, race or ethnicity did not influence this anxiety prevalence. Bekhet et al [14] reported that among people who had negative emotions within a population of pensioners, 23.9% were anxious. In descending order, the prevalence of anxiety was higher among civil servants in categories D and E than those in category A which itself is higher than those in categories B and C (see Table 2).…”

Cognitive Effects of Social Media Use: A Case of Older Adults

“…Retirement and the death of spouses and friends reduce the quantity and quality of social relationships. While often welcome and necessary, transition to alternative living facilities, such as assisted care or independent living communities, can exacerbate feelings of loneliness and social isolation, as ties with neighbors and friends in the community become more difficult to maintain (Bekhet & Zauszniewski, 2012;Cummings, 2002). Moreover, as adults age, their social networks reduce in size as they become more selective of the relationships that are maintained (Carstensen, 1992); they look to spend more time with familiar and rewarding relationships (Carstensen & Mikels, 2005).…”

The role of the intermediate care team in detecting and responding to loneliness in older clients

“…They described how loneliness could be caused by or lead to declining mental wellbeing or physical functioning. There was a keen awareness that ICT clients living alone were at higher risk of developing poor health outcomes, which aligns with current research evidence (Lillyman and Land, 2007;Buchman et al, 2010;La Grow et al, 2011;Bekhet and Zauszniewski, 2012). Despite this, study participants failed to identify progressive mental and physical health deterioration, which can contribute to the development of loneliness (Hagan Hennessy and Walker, 2004).…”

“…Loneliness has the potential to increase anxiety and depressive symptoms (Bekhet and Zauszniewski, 2012), increase systolic blood pressure (Hawkley et al, 2010), increase rates of cognitive and motor decline (Buchman et al, 2010;Shankar et al, 2013), and increase risk of mortality and morbidity (Luo et al, 2012). Older people who live alone are at greater risk of the development of disability and disease and therefore may benefit from early intervention from public involvement and inclusion schemes (Lillyman and Land, 2007).…”