Abstract:

Objective: This study was conducted to evaluate the relationship between loneliness and life satisfaction in elderly individuals living at home. Materials and Methods: The sample of the descriptive study consisted of 354 elderly individuals aged 60 and over, living at home in Ankara between January and March 2020. “Individual Information Form”, “Loneliness Scale for the Elderly”, “Life Satisfaction Scale” were used to collect data. Results: In this study, it was determined that the level of loneliness is higher in male, married and elderly individuals with low education level (p<0,05). it was determined that the life satisfaction was lower in the elderly who had low income, did not have social security and did not use social media. (p<0.05). In addition, there is a weak, positive (r:0.384,p:0.000<0.05) relationship between the mean scores of emotional loneliness sub-dimension of the elderly individuals and the mean scores of the life satisfaction scale, and a moderately negative relationship with the mean score of the social loneliness sub-dimension ( r:-0.437,p:0.000). Conclusion: This study showed that the level of life satisfaction and loneliness in elderly individuals differ according to some the descriptive characteristics and that social and emotional loneliness are associated with life satisfaction. In line with these results, it is recommended to increase social support for elderly individuals and to encourage the conscious and safe use of social media.

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