Reciprocal relationship of perceived loneliness, life satisfaction and quality of life in older married and spouseless women of Tabriz

Abstract

Introduction: Greater longevity and rapid increase in number of elder people worldwide, nessecitate further attention to their quality of life and life satisfaction. Loneliness and its consequent mental health issues is one of the important dillemas for the elder people and unraveling its association with other lifestyle-related circumstances could pave the way for planning comprehensive policies to alleviate its extend and impact on this age group of populations. . Methodology : The present study was cross-sectional descriptive and analytical study that was performed on 384 married and unmarried elderly women in Tabriz in 2020. The data were collected through using the UCLA Loneliness Scale, The Riverside Life Satisfaction Scale, and the Quality of Life Questionnaire (EQ-5D-5L). Data analysis was performed using SPSS 25 software. T-test and analysis of variance were used to compare the means and the Pearson correlation coefficient and linear regression were used to evaluate the relationship between the study variables.

Findings: Analysis of this study data revealed that the mean and standard deviation of quality of life score in married and unmarried elderly women were 23.30, 1.83, and 20.76, 1.94, respectively. The mean and standard deviation of life satisfaction scores in married and unmarried elderly women were 30.52, 4.93 and 16.95, 5.57. The mean and standard deviation of loneliness score in married and unmarried elderly women were 27.50, 5.14 and 48.80, 10.12. In addition to marital status, various variables such as age, education, income, and health status were found to have a role in improving quality of life and life satisfaction and reducing feeling of loneliness in older women (p = 0.001). There was also a significant relationship between feeling lonely, life satisfaction, and quality of life in elderly married and unmarried women (p= 0.001). According to the findings increase in the precived quality of life, could elevate life satisfaction and reduce sense of loneliness among elder women.

Conclusion: Social isolation and being lonely is a common life experience in elder people due to death of spouce, age-related physical limitations and children who left home to have their own family. Based on the findings, lonliness could pose negative impact on precived quality of life, life satisfaction and mental health of elder people. Aged and lonely individuals specially women in traditional socities are more prone to the development of mental health problems that needs to be intervened. Study of the nature of stigma around remarriage of elder people after their spouce death which is quiet common against elder women in some cultures, development and laveraging of social networks for vulnerable lonely elder people are recommended to have high priority in the future mitigation plans.