Loneliness, sociability and depression in old age home elderly

Authors

  • Pooja Panwar Department of Nursing, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, India
  • Rajesh Kumar Department of Nursing, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, India
  • Xavier Belsiyal Department of Nursing, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, India

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20194490

Keywords:

Loneliness, Depression, Sociability, Elderly, Old age home

Abstract

Background: Increasing elderly population became a big concern to health professionals. Loneliness, lack of socialization and depression is quite frequently reported in elderly population. Lack of evidence on impact of socialization and loneliness on depression necessitate this survey. The current work focused on level of socialization, loneliness and depression among elderly residing in old age homes.

Methods: The cross-sectional survey includes 100 purposively selected elderly from selected old age homes, Uttarakhand. Elderly were interviewed by using University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Loneliness scale, Geriatric depression scale (GDS) and Eysenck personality inventory (EPI) sociability subscale of extroversion. Appropriate statistics was applied to generate results.

Results: Findings revealed a significant relationship of loneliness with depression (r=-0.740, p<0.01) and sociability (r=0.195, p<0.01). Similarly, sociability and depression were found dependent on each other (r=-0.354, p<0.01) in elderly.

Conclusions: Elderly residing in old age homes need due attention and care to get rid of these silent psychological problems. Timely medical care and measures to improve socialization may help to anticipate mortality and morbidity and protect the vulnerable population.

References

Sekhon H. Minhas S, Ahmed S, Garg R. A study of depression in geriatric population in a rural area of north India. Sch Acad J Biosci. 2015;3(1A):26-9.

Nair SS, Raghunath P, Nair SS. Prevalence of Psychiatric Disorders among the Rural Geriatric Population: A Pilot Study in Karnataka, India. Central Asian J Global Health. 2015;4(1):138.

Pracheth R, Mayur SS, Chowti JV. Geriatric Depression Scale: A tool to assess depression in elderly. Int J Med Sci Pub Health. 2013;2(1):31-5.

Borchelt M, Gilberg R, Horgas AI, Geiselmann B. On the significance of morbidity and disability in old age. In: Baltes PB, Mayer KU, eds. The Berlin Aging Study: Aging from 70 to 100. New York: Cambridge University Press; 1999: 403–429.

Reynolds K, Pietrzak RH, El-Gabalawy R, Mackenzie CS, Sareen J. Prevalence of psychiatric disorders in U.S. older adults: findings from a nationally representative survey. World Psychiatr. 2015;14(1):74-81.

Grover S, Malhotra N. Depression in elderly: A review of Indian research. J Geriatric Ment Health. 2015;2:4-15.

Penninx BW, Guralnik JM, Ferrucci L, Simonsick EM, Deeg DJ, Wallace RB. Depressive symptoms and physical decline in community-dwelling older persons. J Am Med Assoc. 1998;127:1720–6.

Bruce ML, Seeman T, Merrill SS, Blazer DG. The impact of depressive symptomatology on physical disability: MacArthur Studies of successful aging. Am J Pub Health. 1994;84:1796–9.

Zalavadiya DD, Banerjee A, Sheth AM, Rangoonwala M, Mitra A, Kadri AM. A comparative study of depression and associated risk factors among elderly inmates of old age homes and community of Rajkot: A Gujarati version of the geriatric depression scale short form (GDS-G). Indian J Community Med. 2017;42:204-8.

Hansson RO, Carpenter BN. Relationships in Old Age: Coping with the challenge of transition. New York, NY: Guilford Press; 1994.

George LK. Social factors and illness. In: Binstock RH, George LK, eds. Handbook of aging and the social sciences. 4th edition. San Diego, CA: Academic Press; 1996: 229–253.

Correspondent DNA. Elderly people in India struggle with loneliness: DNA; 2017. Available at: http://www.dnaindia.com/health/report-elderly-people-in-india-struggle-with-loneliness-2486665. Last Accessed on 5th July 2019.

Ibrahim E. Effects of loneliness on mental health of elderly people: the role of the nurse. Arcada. 2014. Available at: https://www.theseus.fi/bitstream/ handle/10024/88047/Effects-of-loneliness-on-health-of-elderly-people.pdf? sequence=1. Accessed on 5 July 2019.

Ingle GK, Nath A. Geriatric health in India: concerns and solutions. Indian J Community Med. 2008;33(4):214-8.

Russell D, Peplau LA, Cutrona CE. The revised UCLA Loneliness Scale: Concurrent and discriminant validity evidence. J Personal Soc Psychol. 1980;39:472–80.

Yesavage JA, Brink TL. Rose TL, Lum O, Huang V, Adey M, et al. Development and validation of a geriatric depression screening scale: A preliminary report. J Psychiatric Res . 1983;17:37-49.

Eysenck HJ, Eysenck SBG. Manual of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (adult & junior) London: Hodder & Stoughton; 1975.

IBM SPSS Statistics. Available at: https://www. ibm.com/us-en/?lnk=fcc. Accessed on 11 February 2019.

Suzman R, Beard JR, Boerma T, Chatterji S. Health in an ageing world– What do we know? Lancet. 2015;385:484-6.

Arber S, Ginn J. Gender and later life. London: Sage; 1991.

Krause N. Stress and isolation from close ties in later life. J Gerontol. 1991;46:S183-94.

Luo Y, Hawkley LC, Waite LJ, Cacioppo JT. Loneliness, health, and mortality in old age: A national longitudinal study. Soc Sci Med. 2012;74:907‑14.

Singh A, Misra N. Loneliness, depression and sociability in old age. Industrial Psychiatry J. 2009;18(1):51-5.

Solanki VN. Loneliness, depression and sociability in old age people. Int J Soc Impact. 2016;1(3):53-8.

Downloads

Published

2019-09-26

How to Cite

Panwar, P., Kumar, R., & Belsiyal, X. (2019). Loneliness, sociability and depression in old age home elderly. International Journal Of Community Medicine And Public Health, 6(10), 4331–4335. https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20194490

Issue

Section

Original Research Articles