Relationship between Loneliness and Abuse in Elderly People

Elder abuse is one of the major challenges in caring and supporting elderly people. Current research aimed to investigate the relationship between loneliness and experiencing abuse in elderly people attending emergency departments in Amol hospitals, Iran 2019.

A descriptive-analytical correlation study was conducted in 220 people aged>60 years selected by convenience sampling. Demographic information of the participants was recorded and Elder abuse questionnaire in the family and the Social and Emotional Loneliness Scale for Adults (SELSA) were used. Data analysis was performed applying descriptive statistics test, Spearman correlation coefficient, multiple regression model and analysis of variance in SPSS V22.

The mean age of the elderly was 66.5±5.45 years and 62.7% were female participants. Among the subjects, 50.9% reported at least one type of abuse. Emotional neglect (29.1%) and physical abuse (0.5%) were the most and least frequent types of abuse, respectively. The current study showed significant relationships between all dimensions of abuse and the sense of loneliness (P=0.001) except for authority deprivation (P=0.5) and physical abuse (P=0.1) and financial neglect (P=0.1(.

Education and increasing awareness of elderly people and their caregivers can reduce elder abuse and improve their relationship, which will consequently improve the sense of loneliness in elderly people.