comparing life style,self-esteem and mental health of the along,non-along and residing nursing home elderly

the present study aimed to compare lifestyle, self-esteem and mental health of elderly who were living alone, living with family, or residing in nursing homes. The sample consisted of 384 elderly (128 living alone, 128 living with family, and 128 residing in nursing home).The sample was selected randomly by convenience sampling. The participants completed the Safe Lifestyle of the Elderly (Eshaghi, Farajzadegan, & Babak, 2007), the Self-esteem (Rosenberg, 1965) and the General Health (Goldberg & williams, 1988) scales. The results of multivariate analysis indicated that 1) the non-residing elderly (alone or nonalone) had better lifestyle and mental health than the nursery home residing elderly, 2) the non-alone elderly had better lifestyle and mental health than alone elderly, 3)the elderly who were not living in nursing homes (alone or non-alone) had higher self-esteem than those who were living in nursery homes, and 4) the elderly who were living alone had higher self-esteem than those who were not living alone. According to the theory of activity, by keeping previous social roles and activities, the elderly can have good lifestyle and keep feeling worthwhile.