Factors related to loneliness and sadness in elderly people

Pilar Jürschik-Giménez, Carmen Nuin-Orrio, Teresa Botigué-Satorra, and Ana Lavedan-Santamaría

School of Nursing, University of Lleida, Spain

Affective disorders in elderly people frequently indicate emotional disturbance (loneliness or sadness). These feelings may change depending on each person’s experiences and perception.

The sample of the study consisted of three hundred and ninety-eight subjects who arrived at Lleida’s health care centres during the years 2003 and 2004. The feelings of loneliness and sadness were found to be greater amongst patients from the rest home for the chronically dependent and the internal medicine department of the hospital for acutely-ill patients. On the other hand, patients of health centres and assisted-living centres displayed a positive mood. Furthermore, the feeling of loneliness was more prevalent in women, in single persons, in dependent individuals, persons with few friends, those with cognitive disorders, those with heart diseases, those who were less educated, and those who had had a stroke. These individuals considered themselves less healthy than their fellows, although they were not necessarily the most critically ill patients. The feeling of sadness increased in subjects with cognitive disorders caused by a stroke and in those with few friends.

The intensity of the feelings of loneliness or sadness depends on personality, experience and the emergence of situations that are more common among the elderly, such as chronic diseases that demand family and social care-giving.