The Investigation to The Relation Between Loneliness and Living Places in Older Adults

Abstract

The aim of this study is to analyze loneliness levels of older adults living in community and nursing home. Ninety nine older adults living in Çınarcık/ Yalova between dates of December-February 2016 participated in the study. Random sampling method is used. The researchers visited places (parks, coffee shops, etc.) where elderly people could spend their time. Research is descriptive. UCLA loneliness scale (UCLA) was used to determine of loneliness. Correlations with numerical properties were evaluated by Spearman rank correlation analysis. Kruskal Wallis H and Mann Whitney U test showed differences between the categories. The mean of age and Body Mass Index (BMI) was found 74.96±8.12 and 28.25±6.61. There was no correlation between UCLA and age, BMI (p> 0.05). There was no statistically significant difference between UCLA and living places and gender (p> 0.05). According to literature loneliness should be related with either lonely living or a lot of factors such as social and emotional. In this study, there was no relation between loneliness and living places which is one of the factors could have effect on loneliness. We believe that it would be appropriate to continue the studies on loneliness by increasing the sample size in the future.

Keywords

• Loneliness
• Older People
• Nursing Home