Abstract:

Aim: This study was carried out to determine the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic process on death anxiety and loneliness in the elderly living in nursing homes. Method: The study, which was carried out with a descriptive and cross-sectional design, was completed with the participation of a total of 201 people, 109 women and 92 men, out of 421 people staying at the Hospice Presidency Nursing Home. The working period covers the period between 24.02.2022-15.04.2022. Data collected with; the The Personal Information Form, Loneliness Scale for the Elderly (LSE) and the Death Anxiety Scale (DAS). In evaluating the data; frequency tables and descriptive statistics, Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis H test, Bonferroni correction, ANOVA and Spearman correlation coefficient were used. Results: It was determined that the average age of the participants was 69.24±6.83 (years), 54.2% were female, 77.1% were single, and 52.2% had primary education. Participants' mean score for "Emotional Loneliness", one of the sub-dimensions of LSE, is 6.67±3.08, their mean score for "Social Loneliness" is 4.02±3.55, and their average score for LSE-Total is 10.69±5.91, and for DAS is 7,02±3.89. In this study, loneliness and emotional loneliness in men and fear of death in women were found to be statistically significantly higher (p<0.05). The mean scores of emotional and social loneliness and fear of death in those who stated that they felt lonely during the pandemic process and emotional loneliness and fear of death in the participants who had negative thoughts about their health and that they felt fear were found to be significantly higher (p<0.05). As emotional loneliness and social loneliness increase, the fear of death also increases. Conclusion: Participants experienced loneliness and fear of death during the pandemic; men experienced loneliness more, while women experienced fear of death more. It may be recommended to increase research on loneliness and death anxiety for elderly individuals who are more affected by difficult processes such as the pandemic, and for health professionals to implement initiatives to reduce anxiety and the feeling of loneliness in individuals. It may be recommended that their relatives support the individuals more during this process and engage in activities to prevent them from feeling lonely.

Keywords: