The Relationship Between Activities of Daily Living and Psychological Distress in Older Adults: The Mediating Role of Loneliness

Today, paying attention to older adults and trying to improve their psychological health seems highly important. Therefore, identifying the potential factors that can affect the reduction or increase their psychological distress appear to be crucial and significant for early diagnosis and prevention of psychological distress. Consequently, this study aimed to investigate the mediating role of loneliness in the relationship between activities of daily living (ADLs) and psychological distress in older adults. This was a correlational study, of path analysis type. The statistical population included all older adults living in Ilam, Iran in 2022, among whom 385 were selected using convenience sampling method. The participants of this study filled out Lovibond’s depression, anxiety and stress scale, Mahoney and Barthel’s ADLs questionnaire and the Russell et al.’s loneliness questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed using Pearson’s correlation coefficient and path analysis in SPSS-25 and Amos-25 software, respectively. The results of path analysis demonstrated that there is a negative direct relationship between ADLs and loneliness, a negative direct relationship between ADLs and psychological distress, and a positive direct relationship between loneliness and psychological distress. ADLs also had an indirect and significant relationship with psychological distress through the mediating role of loneliness (p<.05, β=-.17). According to the results of the current research, it can be said that targeting the ADLs and loneliness in relation to treatments and psychological services can be effective for older adults. Therefore, it is suggested that counselors and psychologists working in the field of older adults take a constructive step in reducing the psychological distress of older adults by using measures to help reduce their feeling of loneliness.