Bidang Kajian : Warga Emas
Pelajar/Pengkaji Oleh: Adibah Hanis Binti Zulkernain
Alamat Emel: dibanies@gmail.com
Tarikh: 29/08/2023
Abstrak Kajian
As people grow older, they become more lonely. The elderly living in institutional care are especially vulnerable to loneliness. There are a few factors contributing to loneliness among the elderly in institutional care such as social support, economic status, and many more. Loneliness also has adverse effects on the elderly regarding physical and mental health. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of loneliness among the elderly in institutional care and the relationship between the demographic profile of the elderly and loneliness. A cross-sectional study was conducted using a questionnaire that included demographic data and the De Jong Loneliness scale to assess the prevalence of loneliness among the elderly in institutional care and the relationship between the demographic profile of the elderly and loneliness. This study was conducted at Rumah Seri Kenangan (RSK) located at Cheras and Taiping which involved 103 respondents. The finding of this study indicated that the prevalence of loneliness among the elderly in institutional care was high where (95.1%) of the participants experienced loneliness and only (4.8%) did not experience loneliness. In addition, the result also shows that there is no relationship between the demographic profile (age, gender, race, marital status, occupation, financial status, medical status, physical condition, leisure activity, and frequency of family members visiting) of the elderly and loneliness (p>0.05). This study has several limitations which include a small sample size, data that does not represent the loneliness among elderly living in institutional care in Malaysia and the instrument used did not indicate the level of loneliness. Further studies should be conducted using a bigger sample size and use an instrument that is able to measure the level of loneliness among the elderly.