Loneliness Among Elderly People in Residential Care: Causes, Effects and Solutions

This research paper aims to understand the effect and level of loneliness prevalent among the Australian elderly people in the residential cares they stay in. The degree of loneliness and the factors that catalyse such social isolation will be studied in the research paper. The paper discusses the causes and effects of loneliness among the elderly people in residential care settings, and the research methodology used to collect data. The significance of the research lies in the fact that the care given to the elderly people must be effective enough to keep away isolation and loneliness.

Running head: RESEARCH METHODS
RESEARCH METHODS
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Introduction
One of the most frequently encountered problem by the older people in the care
settings is the problem of loneliness. The elderly people most often face the problem of the
class of depression and anxiety and they encounter loneliness and aimlessness in their lives in
that time. Loneliness and social isolation are the problems that are yet not understood ideally
in terms of pervasiveness, hazard and protecting factors. There are several researches done in
this field to understand the amount of loneliness found in these elderly people, and it is found
only a lesser number of the elderly people are suffering from acute loneliness. The problems
that are associated with old age include sorrow, loss of family, and alteration in existing
situations (Cohen-Mansfield et al., 2016). It is found that loneliness and social isolation can
lead to problems like increased risk of mortality, deterioration in health conditions and
decreased mental assertiveness. It is seen that more than 47% of the elderly people in New
Zealand and Australia are predicted to be the users of the long term care settings (Broad et
al., 2015). Terms like “residential care”, “anxiety and depression”, and “elderly population”
which denotes people over the age of 65 are used in this paper.
Literature Review
Loneliness is defined as the state of mental being which is characterised by isolation
and the feeling of being separated from the loved ones in times of needs (Honigh-de
Vlaming, 2013). It is one of the major aspects of the modern world where children due to
their work pressures and professional needs desolate their parents and elderly people and they
are forced to live in a state of loneliness. The effects of loneliness have a number of effects
on the health of the elderly people. Functional decline is one of the major effects of loneliness
that affects elders especially above the age of 60. The four types of functional decline namely
inability to perform daily activities, inability to walk, inability to climb stairs and inability to

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perform upper ability tasks have been on a continuous decline after attaining the elderly stage
(Gerst-Emerson & Jayawardhana, 2015). Other diseases like diabetes, blood pressure and
tremendous effects to immune system are also caused due to the impact of loneliness. Due to
the implied effects, the elders are generally seen to quite or reduce the intake of food and
fluids considerably that make them prone to various infections and diseases in the longer run.
Also, due to the separation from their children and pressure to live in isolation make them
disinterested in living that in turn also affects their level of health and happiness (Sahu &
Gupta, 2016). Mental depression leading to a number of illness is also attributed to
loneliness. Surviving alone in the midst of unknown people in residential care or living alone
in their own home make them prone to depression and that is seen in most of the elders
around the world. Areas of other mental dysfunction including diseases like dementia,
decrease in the level of cognitive strength, the power to retain memory, visual health and
reduced level of psychomotor activities are also attributed to the concept of loneliness (Holt-
Lunstad et al., 2015). The mentioned diseases when occurred in the elderly people demand
special care and attention from the loved ones, which is again not provided in residential care
leading ultimately to the deterioration of their health condition. Direct relation between
loneliness and heart risk is seen in the health of elders. Hypertension leading to heart issues
and even heart blockage is one of the major effects that loneliness implies on the people.
Mental and social isolation therefore plays a number of negative roles in the health of the
elderly people that should be avoided at the earliest.
Aims
The aim of the research will be to understand the effect and level of loneliness
prevalent among the Australian elderly people in the residential cares they stay in. The degree

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of loneliness and the factors that catalyse such social isolation will be studied in the research
paper.
The research questions of the research are as follows:
 What are the factors that give rise to loneliness among the elderly people staying at
residential care?
 What are the effects of loneliness in terms of behaviour in the elderly people in
residential care settings?
 What is the degree of psychological impacts that loneliness poses among the elderly
people in the residential care units?
Significance of the Research
It is important to give the support and care to the elderly population so that in a
humanitarian perspective they get to live the life they deserve in their developed ages. The
elderly people are naturally exposed to phenomena such as social isolation, depression and
desperation. The elderly population who lives in the residential care units, are especially in
need of distinct care. The significance of the research lies in the fact that the care given to the
elderly people must be effective enough to keep away isolation and loneliness.
It is a fact that the process of “institutionalisation” is also a contributing factor to the
increasing of the feeling of loneliness among the individuals. It is found that the elderly
people who are living in the residential care settings are having double the chance of getting
affected by loneliness compared to their counterpart living in the community settings (Prieto-
Flores et al., 2011).
The various theories which are used to measure loneliness are the cognitive factors,
skill factors, attribution theory, learned helplessness model, the various forms and
manifestations of loneliness long with its measures, antecedents and precedents of loneliness

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among other factors. The outcomes will include the information and answers of the research
questions, the reasons and symptoms of loneliness among the elderly in the residential care
settings and the factors that may help the elderly population in coming out of loneliness in an
effective way.
Proposed Research Methodology
Participants- The participants will be the various residents of the elderly residential
care units and also the care givers in these residential care units. It will be understood by
taking feedback from both the elderly residents and the caregivers what are the various
factors that give rise to loneliness and this can be averted (LoBiondo-Wood & Haber, 2017).
Sampling Method- The sampling method in terms of the elderly people will be
random selection (Taylor, Bogdan & DeVault, 2015). Randomly participants will be selected
so that an assumption of the percentage of elderly population among a group can be
supposed. The participants from the caregivers and attendants will be non-random and only
the people associated closely with the residents will be taken for the research.
Methodology- The mixed method will be applied in this particular research. Most of
the questions that will be used will be quantitative open ended questions. The answers given
verbatim will be analysed.
Design Framework- Non-experimental design framework will be used. This is
because the human factors and variables cannot be manipulated or controlled. The research
results will be mainly derived through observation and interaction. The research will be
dependent on “interpretation, observation or interactions to come to a conclusion” (Bryman,
2015).
Data collection methods- Questionnaires and interviews will be the primary method
for collection of data. The interviews will be conducted in order to collect the qualitative data

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and the feelings and opinions of the elderly people will be recorded. On the other hand the
questionnaires will help in collecting the quantitative data which will give quantifiable
answers to the research question.
Ethical Considerations- The researchers must follow research ethics while conducting
the research. Research ethics include the ethical standard of a research like not mentally or
physically harming the research participants, not trying to manipulate the results in order to
suit the objectives of the researcher, not trying to intimidate or manipulate the participants,
taking prior agreement of the participants before publishing the research, keeping anonymity
of the research participants who desires so (Bernard, 2017). All these research ethics will be
followed while conducting the research.
Scopes and Problems of the Research
The scope of the research is the various topics and sub topics that will be covered
within the research. The scope of this particular research would include finding the
information about the causes and effects of loneliness among the elderly people in the
residential care units. This will give important insights about the feelings of the elderly
people while living in such institutionalised settings. The extracted information can be further
utilised in order to conduct research with the similar topic but separate research questions. It
is an important aspect of anthropology to provide required advanced age care to the elderly
population of the society. The elderly people living in residential homes need more care than
their counterparts who are living in community settings.
The problems of the research would be mainly cantered around the possibility of the
advanced aged participants to properly respond to the research question in a comprehensive
manner. It is a natural phenomenon for people of very advanced age to face the problem of

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reduced cognitive abilities. The qualitative questions may not be answered by them very
precisely that will give a clear understanding to the researchers.

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Reference:
Bernard, H. R. (2017). Research methods in anthropology: Qualitative and quantitative
approaches. Rowman & Littlefield.
Broad, J. B., Ashton, T., Gott, M., McLeod, H., Davis, P. B., & Connolly, M. J. (2015).
Likelihood of residential aged care use in later life: A simple approach to estimation
with international comparison. Australian and New Zealand journal of public
health, 39(4), 374-379.
Bryman, A. (2015). Social research methods. Oxford university press.
Cohen-Mansfield, J., Hazan, H., Lerman, Y., & Shalom, V. (2016). Correlates and predictors
of loneliness in older-adults: a review of quantitative results informed by qualitative
insights. International psychogeriatrics, 28(4), 557-576.
Gerst-Emerson, K., & Jayawardhana, J. (2015). Loneliness as a public health issue: the
impact of loneliness on health care utilization among older adults. American journal
of public health, 105(5), 1013-1019.
Holt-Lunstad, J., Smith, T. B., Baker, M., Harris, T., & Stephenson, D. (2015). Loneliness
and social isolation as risk factors for mortality: a meta-analytic review. Perspectives
on Psychological Science, 10(2), 227-237.
Honigh-de Vlaming, R. (2013). Healthy Ageing: prevention of loneliness among elderly
people: evaluation of a complex intervention in public health practice.
LoBiondo-Wood, G., & Haber, J. (2017). Nursing Research-E-Book: Methods and Critical
Appraisal for Evidence-Based Practice. Elsevier Health Sciences.

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Prieto-Flores, M. E., Forjaz, M. J., Fernandez-Mayoralas, G., Rojo-Perez, F., & Martinez-
Martin, P. (2011). Factors associated with loneliness of noninstitutionalized and
institutionalized older adults. Journal of Aging and Health, 23(1), 177-194.
Sahu, K., & Gupta, D. (2016). Perceived loneliness among elderly people. Indian Journal of
Health and Wellbeing, 7(5), 553.
Taylor, S. J., Bogdan, R., & DeVault, M. (2015). Introduction to qualitative research
methods: A guidebook and resource. John Wiley & Sons.