Elderly people's quality of life in rural areas of Turkey and its relationship with loneliness and sociodemographic characteristics

ÇAM C., ATAY E., AYGAR H., ÖCAL E., ÖNSÜZ M. F., IŞIKLI B., ...Daha Fazla

Psychogeriatrics, cilt.21, ss.795-804, 2021 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 21
  • Basım Tarihi: 2021
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1111/psyg.12741
  • Dergi Adı: Psychogeriatrics
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, Abstracts in Social Gerontology, CINAHL, EMBASE, MEDLINE, Psycinfo
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.795-804
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: elderly, loneliness, quality of life, rural, Turkey, OLDER PERSONS, NEUROENDOCRINE, PREDICTOR, ATTITUDES, RESPONSES, ADULTS, MEN
  • Eskişehir Osmangazi Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

© 2021 Japanese Psychogeriatric Society.Background: The aim of the present study was to examine the relationships between loneliness, quality of life and the factors that may be related to the quality of life in individuals ≥65 years old living in rural areas of Turkey. Methods: The World Health Organization Quality of Life Instrument Older Adults Module (WHOQOL OLD) and Loneliness Scale for the Elderly (LSE) was administered to 427 elderly participants. Multiple linear regression was used to determine the variables that affected QOL. Results: The results of the multivariate linear regression analyses indicated that gender, marital status, education level, family income status, general health condition, living arrangement, and loneliness level for subdomains were within the predictors. Loneliness level had the strongest negative impact on the four WHOQOL OLD subdomains and total WHOQOL OLD score. It was the most important predictor for autonomy, past present future activities, social participation, death-and-dying, and intimacy subdomains and for the total QOL. Conclusions: Remarkably, a sense of loneliness in the elderly was determined to be the most important factor for predicting their QOL. Loneliness should be considered in attempts to improve QOL for the elderly, interventions to reduce loneliness should specifically target this group, and activities with the potential to increase QOL should be encouraged.