The Millennium Year: Older Adult & Loneliness Hussein SZ(a*) , Shamsudin K (b),
a) Nursing Department, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Jalan Yaakob Latif, Bandar Tun Razak, 56000, Cheras Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. *zuhaida_hussein[at]ukm.edu.my b) Community Health Department, Faculty of Medicine UKM, Malaysia
Abstract
Background: The life at the older ages are known to be very challenging and mostly influenced by the aging process and negative changes such as retirement, loss of a significant others and living alone. These changes had an effect which increase the risk of loneliness and at the same time lowered the level of quality of life in the older adult. There are evidences showing the loneliness is the root cause of deterioration of health status in the older adult. Methods: This is a mixed method study with descriptive cross sectional community survey was conducted among 380 older adult in Johore, Malaysia followed by in-depth interview among eight respondents. Data were collected using the short form of Social and Emotional Loneliness Scale for Adults (SELSA-S). Results: The results revealed that 37.2% respondents had loneliness. Marital status was significantly associated with loneliness (OR = 2.85, 95% CI: 1.35 - 6.00; p = 0.01). Meanwhile, two main themes were recorded as causes of loneliness among the older adult highly associated with changing the lifestyle and ineffective communications. Conclusion: There are various factors that almost inevitable that could increase risk of older adult to experiences loneliness.
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