A Qualitative Study Of Emotional Support For The Elderly Living Alone

Although there are many studies on aging social support, the special study on the living-alone elderly in urban area is seldom. Selected and interviewed in-depth several urban seniors in Y Street, Pudong District of Shanghai,this study uses qualitative approaches to explore the emotional support of the living-alone elderly in urban area.The study finds that:(1)The emotional support from different people has different features,which can be summed up to lip-deep emotional support from relatives,a bowing acquaintance from neighbor, in-deep emotional support from friends and devout emotional support from religion.(2)According to source of emotional support and attitude, the emotional support of living-alone aging in urban area can be classified into self-internalized, community oriented, self-limited and community integration.(3)Based on the analysis of interview data, we construct the emotional support conceptual model of influencing factors of living-alone aging in urban area, including four aspects of individual factors, family factors, community factors and social factors. Finally, through the discussion of the findings,put forward several suggestions to improve the emotional support of living-alone aging in urban area.