ARTICLE INFO

Article Type

Original Research

Authors

Shamsaei   F. (1)
Cheraghi   F. (2)
Esmaeili   R. (3*)
Mohsenifard   J. (4)






(1) Research Center for Behavioral Disorders and Substance Abuse, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran
(2) Chronic Diseases (Home Care) Research Center, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran
(3*) Department of Medical-Surgical Nursing, Faculty of Nursing & Midwifery, Mazandran University of Medical sciences, Sari, Iran
(4) Department of Nursing, Faculty of Nursing & Midwifery, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran

Correspondence

Article History

Received:  July  8, 2014
Accepted:  November 11, 2014
ePublished:  December 10, 2014

BRIEF TEXT


Elderly and their special conditions and supplying of their mental and physical health are among the issues that require special attention [1]. … [2-11]

Heravi et al. (2007) have studied the phenomenon of elderly’s attitude around loneliness in a study with a phenomenological approach. These researchers depicted this phenomenon with three main themes: the pain and suffering, the lack and deprivation and ways of compensation [12]. Erik Ericsson’s theory of psychosocial development has been considered in this regard due to its relative stability and theoretical comprehensiveness [13].

The aim of this study was to explore the loneliness in the elderly and its analysis with Ericsson's theory of psychosocial development.

This study is a qualitative study that was conducted by content analysis.

Participants included twelve 68 to 85 -year- old elderly people living in the city of Hamedan who was living in their own homes and with their family members.

Sampling was carried out according to the research goals, with purposive sampling.

Data was collected using semi-structured interviews. Interview locations were parks from various parts of the north, south, east, west, and center of Hamedan city. In fact, these people often had in-depth information and experiences about the concept and the issue that was studied, and they could provide the researcher with many data. The interview was started with an open and general question about the experience of their daily lives, and during the interview, the focus was on the participants ‘description of their experiences. Each participant had the opportunity to express his own experiences freely, and to conduct interviews about the matter under consideration i.e. feeling loneliness open questions were used such as: “What is your opinion about the loneliness?”, “Have you ever experienced loneliness?”, “ What are the factors involved in your loneliness?”. When interviewee was away from the main discussion, the researcher attracted his attention to the main subject by creating a question out of his remarks. It was tried to continue the interview process with continuous questions to access to the desired experience. Duration of the interview was from 35 to 70 minutes and it was on average 50 minutes. All interviewers were individually. Interviews were recorded and after finishing each interview, it was transcribed on paper word-by-word [14-16]. Statistical analysis: Data analysis was conducted based on participants’ explanations and it performed in eight steps: 1- Data preparation (writing or typing interviews ’texts) 2- Determination of the meaning units (highlighting words, sentences or paragraphs from the patients’ words that contained important points about loneliness as meaning units) 3- Coding the text (converting units of meaning to tag the convention of semantic units into labels, summarized topics, which depict the chosen semantic units. 4- Reviewing the codes with the text (overview, comparison of the codes in terms of similarities and differences and merge similar codes.) 5- Classification and development of the classes based on the similaries and congruence) 6- Review of the classes and further comparison with data to ensure the strength of the codes. 7- Identification of the themes with precise, profound consideration, and comparison of the classes to each other. 8- Reporting of the findings [17]. Verification of the integrity of the research was carried out using valid criteria, reliability, confirmation, and transition.

All the participants were married and wives of three of them had been died. The participants had different educational levels from elementary to bachelor. The participants had different jobs such as being housewife, clerk, laborer, teacher, and retired.187 initial codes were extracted through continuous analysis of the data that considering their overlap and merging, 86 codes were obtained. Following continuous overview and analysis, three main categories and seven subcategories were identified. The main categories include feeling of alienation, being far from favorite activities, feeling upset and grief. These classes were named within a common subcategories as “sigh with nostalgia”, that are described in Table 1. Feeling of alienation: feeling of alienation was one of the themes extracted from participants’ interviews. Participants considered reduced attention and being away from the others because of family`s involvement with their own personal and professional issues as the cause of alienation. Being far from favorite activities: The aging process causes gradual decrease in the individual performance, and intensifies loneliness and isolation in them by missing some of entertainments and individual interests. Mental fatigue and sadness: Unpleasant feeling and exhaustion is one of the themes extracted from participants’ interview that often is along with sadness and grief that intensifies the feeling of loneliness. In analyzing the results to determine the loneliness in the elderly and its analysis with Ericsson's theory of psychosocial development, feeling alienation, being far from favorite activities, and feeling upset and grief were obtained as the themes. To explain the results of this project the viewpoint of Ericsson to the human nature has been used.

… [18-21]. Reduction of favorite activities in life is of the influential factors, which influence on loneliness and its consequences namely feeling of depression, which causes a decrease in quality of elderly's life [22]. Brikland et al. (2009) described the limitation in the elderly`s activities such as walking and favorite activities as a problem associated with their loneliness [23] that by using appropriate entertainment such as watching TV , gardening surrounding the house, and cooking, its intensity will be decreased [24]. … [25-26].From the viewpoint of Ericsson, final stage of development is devoted to old age. In this age that starts almost from 61 years old and continues until end of life, elderly person reviews early stages of his life. Whatever a person used to cope with difficulties more efficiently in the past, he is more gratified and feels self-growth in this period. The elderly who is sad about his previous life and he is upset to missing his chances, he feels hopelessness and suffers from targets to be dead [27].

Non-declared

Non-declared

Adopting appropriate intervention strategies using Ericsson's psychosocial theory decreases loneliness and improves the quality of elderly's life and their sense of worthiness in this period.

Non-declared

Non-declared

All participants completed the consent form consciously. In this form, the participants ‘permission for recording the interviews and using the information anonymously was obtained. At the end of each interview, the confidentiality of the participants ‘names was emphasized again, and all the participants declared their consent for using their ideas anonymously.

Current essay reports the results of approved project in Behavioral Disorders and Drug Abuse Research Center, with the financial support of the Vice-chancellor of Research and Technology Hamedan University of Medical Sciences.

TABLES and CHARTS

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