A study on the social status of elderlies (comparison between elderlies living home with those living nursing homes)

The population pyramid in Iran is changing so that there will be greater elderlies in the near future. The objective of this study is to identify the social status of elderlies living (1) in-home and (2) in nursing homes in Mashad. The central hypothesis is that there is a difference between these two groups on social status. For testing this hypothesis, we used a causal-comparative method and questionnaire. Firstly, we studied 276 people living in nursing homes and then based on their main traits, such as age, gender, job, etc.- we constituted a peer group of 283 people who lived in-home. After all, we did a path analysis. This study's other constructs were feelings about self-esteem, hopelessness, prosperity, and satisfaction with the services elderlies received of the nursing homes. Findings showed that the feeling about social status, as an indicator for measuring social health in elderlies, is dependent on three mental health indicators, including the feeling of loneliness, the feeling of self-esteem, and the feeling of prosperity. Also, we found out that satisfaction with the services elderlies receive from nursing homes have a considerable impact on the social status of elderlies living there. For the other group, the greatest impact belongs to the feeling of loneliness. The feeling of loneliness directly impacts on other variables and finally impresses the feeling of social status. At last, we could say that the feeling of social status in elderlies living in nursing homes are significantly less than those living home.