Study On Loneliness And Its Influence Factors Of The Rural Elderly In Chizhou District, Guichi

ObjectivesThe purposes of this study were to realize the status and distribution of theloneliness among the rural elderly in Chizhou, and their Quality of Life; analyze thecorrelations between loneliness and family and social supports; explore the relevance ofloneliness and the Quality of Life, and the influence factors of loneliness. This studyintends to provide theory basis for formulating feasible intervention measures to easethe elderly’s loneliness and better their Quality of Life.MethodsA total of735rural elderly who aged60years or above in Chizhou was selected tocarry out the survey. We used the questionnaire to examine their demographiccharacteristic and health behavior. The University of California at Los AngelesLoneliness Scale (UCLA-LS), Social Support Rating Scale (SSRS), Perceived SocialSupport from Family Scale (PSS-Fa), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and theWorld Health Organization Quality of Life questionnaire abbreviate version(WHOQOL-BREF) were used to assess the loneliness, the social support and familysupport, the sleep quality, and the quality of life. T-test, correlation analysis, univariateand multiple linear regression were used to explore the correlation between lonelinessand social support, family support and quality of life, and to analyze the influencingfactors of loneliness. ResultsThe score of UCLA-LS was40.537.25. Through the t test and One-way ANOVA,there were difference on the loneliness score between the different marital status, livingtype, job, education level and income level (P<0.05), and there were no differencebetween age and gender. According to the correlation analysis, the correlationcoefficient of the loneliness associated with three dimensionalities of social supportwere-0.53for subjective support,-0.47for objective support,-0.40for utilizations ofsupport, respectively; and the correlation coefficient of social support and lonelinesswas-0.58(P<0.05). The correlation coefficient of Family support and loneliness was-0.54(P<0.05). The scores of physiological domain, psychological domain, socialrelation domain, and environmental domain, general quality of life, general health ofWHOQOL-BREF were56.2816.82,60.1811.76,56.419.52,60.3011.21,3.23±0.72,2.90±0.86, respectively. Compared with the normal population, the score of apart fromthe environment domain and other domains were significantly lower in rural elderly.Correlation analysis result showed that the correlation coefficient was physiological:-0.344, psychological:-0.554, social relation:-0.426, environmental:-0.407, generalquality of life:-0.400, general health:-0.248, respectively, the P value were all less than0.01between UCLA-LS score and every domain of WHOQOL-BREF. The result fromstepwise regression analysis provided the influencing factors of loneliness. Ondemographic characteristics, divorced/unmarried and live alone were risk factors ofloneliness. Dysfunction of daytime and poor sleep quality were the risk factors ofloneliness. Good objective support, better utilization of support, good social support andfamily support were the protection factors of loneliness. In the Quality of Life,protection factors of loneliness were that the elderly satisfied with psychological fieldand social relation field condition, and general Quality of Life and general health. ConclusionOur data showed that there was a moderate level on loneliness among the ruralelderly in the Chizhou; and the loneliness was affected by some factors. Long-termserious loneliness of the elderly will not only lead to the damage of physiologicalfunction, and more affect their mental health. It may cause many psychologicaldisorders, such as depression, suicidal ideation. Therefore, when we pay attention toimproving the living standard of the rural elderly we should better their quality of lifeand pay more attention to their mental health.