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Covid-19: Pandemi Döneminde Yaşlı Bireylerde Yaşanan Yalnızlık Durumu ve Etkileyen Faktörler: Kesitsel Çalışma

Year 2025, Volume: 4 Issue: 2, 1 - 10, 31.08.2025

Abstract

Covid-19 pandemisinin yaşamımıza getirdiği azalmış sosyal temas özellikle yüksek risk grubunda yer alan yaşlı bireyler için yalnızlık duygusuna neden olmuştur. Araştırma, Covid-19 pandemik salgın döneminde yaşlı bireylerin yalnızlık durumu ve etkileyen faktörleri incelemek amacıyla yapılmıştır. Tanımlayıcı ve kesitsel tipte olan araştırma 104 yaşlı birey ile yürütülmüştür. Veriler “Kişisel Bilgi Formu” ve “Yaşlılar için Yalnızlık Ölçeği” kullanılarak toplanmıştır. Çalışmaya katılan yaşlıların yalnızlık ölçeği toplam puan ortalaması; 9.47±6.04, “duygusal yalnızlık” alt boyut ortalaması; 5.96±3.82, “sosyal yalnızlık” alt boyut ortalaması; 3.49±2.78 olarak belirlenmiştir. Yaşlıların kendini yalnız hissetme ifadelerinin ölçek puan ortalamasını(p=0.000), sosyal etkinliklere katılma düzeylerinin sosyal yalnızlık alt boyutu puan ortalamalarını (p=0.038) istatistiksel olarak anlamlı düzeyde etkilediği saptanmıştır. Çalışmada, yaşlı bireylerin bu dönemde kendilerini daha yalnız hissettiklerini ifade ettikleri, ancak ölçek puan ortalamalarının orta düzeye yakın olduğu görülmüştür. Bu durumun toplumsal yapı olarak aile ilişkilerinin kuvvetli olmasından kaynaklandığı, bu durumun yaşlıların yalnızlık duygusunu azaltmada etkili olabileceği düşünülebilir.

References

  • Akgül, H., & Yeşilyaprak, B. (2015). Adaption of loneliness scale for elderly into Turkish culture: Validity and reliability study. Elderly Issues Research Journal, 8(1), 34–45.
  • Akgül, H., & Yeşilyaprak, B. (2018). The effect of psychoeducation program for reducing loneliness on loneliness level of the elderly. OPUS International Journal of Society Researches, 8(14), 11–52.
  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2021). Provisional death counts for Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/covid19/mortality-overview.htm
  • Cihan, F., & Gökgöz Durmaz, F. (2021). Evaluation of COVID-19 phobia and the feeling of loneliness in the geriatric age group. International Journal of Clinical Practice, 75(6), e14089.
  • Ciotti, M., Ciccozzi, M., Terrinoni, A., Jiang, W. C., Wang, C. B., & Bernardini, S. (2020). The COVID-19 pandemic. Critical Reviews in Clinical Laboratory Sciences, 57(6), 365–388. https://doi.org/10.1080/10408363.2020.1783198
  • Dahlberg, L. (2021). Loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic. Aging & Mental Health, 25(7), 1161–1164.
  • Donizzetti, A. R., & Lagacé, M. (2022). COVID-19 and the elderly's mental illness: The role of risk perception, social isolation, loneliness, and ageism. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(8), 4513.
  • Dziedzic, B., Idzik, A., Kobos, E., Sienkiewicz, Z., Kryczka, T., & Fidecki, W. (2021). Loneliness and mental health among the elderly in Poland during the COVID-19 pandemic. BMC Public Health, 21(1), 1976.
  • Ercan, M., & Arıcı, A. (2020). Bio-psycho-social effects of COVID-19 pandemic process on elderly. Journal of ADEM, 1(3), 5–22.
  • Esen, H., İlçe, A., & Yiğit, Ü. (2024). Sağlık Çalışanları Arasında Kesici Delici Tıbbi Alet Yaralanmalarına Covid 19 Pandemisinin Etkisi. Sağlık Bakım Ve Rehabilitasyon Dergisi, 3(1), 1-11.
  • Gencer, N. (2020). Being elderly in COVID-19 process: Evaluations on curfew for 65-year-old and over citizens and spiritual social work. Turkish Journal of Social Work Research, 4(1), 35–42.
  • Guner, T. A., Erdogan, Z., & Demir, I. (2021). The effect of loneliness on death anxiety in the elderly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Omega (Westport). Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/00302228211010587
  • Heidinger, T., & Richter, L. (2020). The effect of COVID-19 on loneliness in the elderly: An empirical comparison of pre-and peri-pandemic loneliness in community-dwelling elderly. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 585308.
  • Hintistan, S., & Cin, A. (2022). Being elder in COVID-19 pandemia. Ordu University Journal of Nursing Studies, 5(1), 114–124.
  • Hsu, H. C., & Chao, S. F. (2022). Loneliness, loneliness literacy, and change in loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic among older adults: A cross-sectional study. BMC Geriatrics, 22(1), 707.
  • İnce, C. (2020). The older people as a socially vulnerable group in disasters: The case of COVID-19. Eurasian Journal of Researches in Social and Economics, 7(9), 184–198.
  • Kahraman, B., Uğur, T. D., Girgin, D., & Koçak, A. B. (2022). Being old during COVID-19 era: Problems experienced by individuals aged 65 and over during the pandemic process. Hacettepe University Journal of Faculty of Letters, 39(1), 124–143.
  • Kapıkıran, Ş., Kırmızı, F., & Işıtan, A. A. (2022). Qualitative study on the problems experienced by the elderly in the COVID-19 process. Western Anatolia Journal of Educational Sciences, 13(Special Issue 1), 1–20.
  • Kılıncel, O., Muratdagı, G., Aydın, A., Oksuz, A., Buyukdereli Atadag, Y., & Etcioglu, E. (2020). The anxiety and loneliness levels of geriatric population in-home quarantine during COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey. Turkish Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 23(Supp 1), 7–14.
  • Kotwal, A. A., Holt-Lunstad, J., Newmark, R. L., Cenzer, I., Smith, A. K., & Covinsky, K. E. (2021). Social isolation and loneliness among San Francisco Bay Area older adults during the COVID-19 shelter-in-place orders. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 69(1), 20–29.
  • Krendl, A. C., & Perry, B. L. (2021). The impact of sheltering in place during the COVID-19 pandemic on older adults' social and mental well-being. Journal of Gerontology: Series B, 76(2), e53–e58.
  • Leigh-Hunt, N., Bagguley, D., Bash, K., Turner, V., Turnbull, S., & Valtorta, N. (2017). An overview of systematic reviews on the public health consequences of social isolation and loneliness. Public Health, 152, 157–171.
  • Müller, F., Röhr, S., Reininghaus, U., & Riedel-Heller, S. G. (2021). Social isolation and loneliness during COVID-19 lockdown: Associations with depressive symptoms in the German old-age population. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(7), 3615.
  • National Academics of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2020). Social isolation and loneliness in older adults: Opportunities for the health care system. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
  • Sayin Kasar, K., & Karaman, E. (2021). Life in lockdown: Social isolation, loneliness, and quality of life in the elderly during the COVID-19 pandemic: A scoping review. Geriatric Nursing, 42(5), 1222–1229.
  • Stolz, E., Mayerl, H., & Freidl, W. (2021). The impact of COVID-19 restriction measures on loneliness among older adults in Austria. European Journal of Public Health, 31(1), 44–49.
  • Şahan, A. G., Açıkgöz, A., Yörük, S. & Güler, D. (2023). Loneliness of Elderly Individuals and Associated Factors During the Covid-19 Pandemic in Turkey. Balıkesir Health Sciences Journal, 12(3), 603-610. https://doi.org/10.53424/balikesirsbd.1109630
  • T.R. Ministry of Health. (2020). COVID-19 weekly situation report 12/10/2020–18/10/2020 Türkiye. Retrieved from https://covid19.saglik.gov.tr/Eklenti/39168/0/covid-19-haftalik-durum-raporu---42-haftapdf.pdf?_tag1=710A3D148C11F8852B0DDC1FB4EE49DAE667F46D
  • Turkish Statistical Institute. (2020). Elderly with statistics, 2020. Retrieved from https://data.tuik.gov.tr/Bulten/Index?p=Istatistiklerle-Yaslilar-2020-37227
  • Tüzün Özdemir, S., & Usta Yeşilbalkan, Ö. (2024). Adherence to Treatment in Geriatric Oncology Patients. Sağlık Bakım Ve Rehabilitasyon Dergisi, 3(3), 70-78.
  • Wickens, C. M., McDonald, A. J., Elton-Marshall, T., Wells, S., Nigatu, Y. T., & Jankowicz, D. (2021). Loneliness in the COVID-19 pandemic: Associations with age, gender, and their interaction. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 136, 103–108.
  • World Health Organization (WHO). (2020). Coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Retrieved from https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/question-and-answers-hub/q-a-detail/coronavirus-disease-covid-19
  • Wu, B. (2020). Social isolation and loneliness among older adults in the context of COVID-19: A global challenge. Global Health Research and Policy, 5, 27.

Loneliness of Elderly and Affecting Factors During the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study

Year 2025, Volume: 4 Issue: 2, 1 - 10, 31.08.2025

Abstract

The study was conducted to examine the loneliness of elderly and affecting factors during the Covid-19 pandemic. This cross-sectional and descriptive study was conducted 104 elderly in Türkiye. “Elderly Information Form” and “Loneliness Scale” were used as data collection tools. The total mean loneliness scale score of the elderly was 9.47±6.04. “Emotional loneliness” sub-dimension score was 5.96±3.82, “Social loneliness” sub-dimension score was 3.49±2.78. It was determined that the expressions of feeling lonely of the elderly affected the scale mean score (p=0.000) and their participation in social activities had a statistically significant effect on the social loneliness sub-dimension mean score (p=0.038). It was concluded that the mean score of the scale was the middle level. It can be speculated that this situation arises from the strong family relations as a social structure, and this may be effective in reducing the loneliness of the elderly.

Ethical Statement

The study compiled ethically with the declaration of Helsinki. In order to conduct the research, and ethical approval from a University Medical Research Ethics Committee (IRB No: 21-11.1T/32) and T.R. Implementation permission was received from the Ministry of Health, General Directorate of Health Services. A written informed consent was obtained from all study participants. The details disclosed included the study purpose, confdentiality, participants’ autonomy, voluntary participation and freedom to withdraw from participating at any time.

Thanks

We thank all participants for their collaboration.

References

  • Akgül, H., & Yeşilyaprak, B. (2015). Adaption of loneliness scale for elderly into Turkish culture: Validity and reliability study. Elderly Issues Research Journal, 8(1), 34–45.
  • Akgül, H., & Yeşilyaprak, B. (2018). The effect of psychoeducation program for reducing loneliness on loneliness level of the elderly. OPUS International Journal of Society Researches, 8(14), 11–52.
  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2021). Provisional death counts for Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/covid19/mortality-overview.htm
  • Cihan, F., & Gökgöz Durmaz, F. (2021). Evaluation of COVID-19 phobia and the feeling of loneliness in the geriatric age group. International Journal of Clinical Practice, 75(6), e14089.
  • Ciotti, M., Ciccozzi, M., Terrinoni, A., Jiang, W. C., Wang, C. B., & Bernardini, S. (2020). The COVID-19 pandemic. Critical Reviews in Clinical Laboratory Sciences, 57(6), 365–388. https://doi.org/10.1080/10408363.2020.1783198
  • Dahlberg, L. (2021). Loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic. Aging & Mental Health, 25(7), 1161–1164.
  • Donizzetti, A. R., & Lagacé, M. (2022). COVID-19 and the elderly's mental illness: The role of risk perception, social isolation, loneliness, and ageism. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(8), 4513.
  • Dziedzic, B., Idzik, A., Kobos, E., Sienkiewicz, Z., Kryczka, T., & Fidecki, W. (2021). Loneliness and mental health among the elderly in Poland during the COVID-19 pandemic. BMC Public Health, 21(1), 1976.
  • Ercan, M., & Arıcı, A. (2020). Bio-psycho-social effects of COVID-19 pandemic process on elderly. Journal of ADEM, 1(3), 5–22.
  • Esen, H., İlçe, A., & Yiğit, Ü. (2024). Sağlık Çalışanları Arasında Kesici Delici Tıbbi Alet Yaralanmalarına Covid 19 Pandemisinin Etkisi. Sağlık Bakım Ve Rehabilitasyon Dergisi, 3(1), 1-11.
  • Gencer, N. (2020). Being elderly in COVID-19 process: Evaluations on curfew for 65-year-old and over citizens and spiritual social work. Turkish Journal of Social Work Research, 4(1), 35–42.
  • Guner, T. A., Erdogan, Z., & Demir, I. (2021). The effect of loneliness on death anxiety in the elderly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Omega (Westport). Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/00302228211010587
  • Heidinger, T., & Richter, L. (2020). The effect of COVID-19 on loneliness in the elderly: An empirical comparison of pre-and peri-pandemic loneliness in community-dwelling elderly. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 585308.
  • Hintistan, S., & Cin, A. (2022). Being elder in COVID-19 pandemia. Ordu University Journal of Nursing Studies, 5(1), 114–124.
  • Hsu, H. C., & Chao, S. F. (2022). Loneliness, loneliness literacy, and change in loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic among older adults: A cross-sectional study. BMC Geriatrics, 22(1), 707.
  • İnce, C. (2020). The older people as a socially vulnerable group in disasters: The case of COVID-19. Eurasian Journal of Researches in Social and Economics, 7(9), 184–198.
  • Kahraman, B., Uğur, T. D., Girgin, D., & Koçak, A. B. (2022). Being old during COVID-19 era: Problems experienced by individuals aged 65 and over during the pandemic process. Hacettepe University Journal of Faculty of Letters, 39(1), 124–143.
  • Kapıkıran, Ş., Kırmızı, F., & Işıtan, A. A. (2022). Qualitative study on the problems experienced by the elderly in the COVID-19 process. Western Anatolia Journal of Educational Sciences, 13(Special Issue 1), 1–20.
  • Kılıncel, O., Muratdagı, G., Aydın, A., Oksuz, A., Buyukdereli Atadag, Y., & Etcioglu, E. (2020). The anxiety and loneliness levels of geriatric population in-home quarantine during COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey. Turkish Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 23(Supp 1), 7–14.
  • Kotwal, A. A., Holt-Lunstad, J., Newmark, R. L., Cenzer, I., Smith, A. K., & Covinsky, K. E. (2021). Social isolation and loneliness among San Francisco Bay Area older adults during the COVID-19 shelter-in-place orders. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 69(1), 20–29.
  • Krendl, A. C., & Perry, B. L. (2021). The impact of sheltering in place during the COVID-19 pandemic on older adults' social and mental well-being. Journal of Gerontology: Series B, 76(2), e53–e58.
  • Leigh-Hunt, N., Bagguley, D., Bash, K., Turner, V., Turnbull, S., & Valtorta, N. (2017). An overview of systematic reviews on the public health consequences of social isolation and loneliness. Public Health, 152, 157–171.
  • Müller, F., Röhr, S., Reininghaus, U., & Riedel-Heller, S. G. (2021). Social isolation and loneliness during COVID-19 lockdown: Associations with depressive symptoms in the German old-age population. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(7), 3615.
  • National Academics of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2020). Social isolation and loneliness in older adults: Opportunities for the health care system. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
  • Sayin Kasar, K., & Karaman, E. (2021). Life in lockdown: Social isolation, loneliness, and quality of life in the elderly during the COVID-19 pandemic: A scoping review. Geriatric Nursing, 42(5), 1222–1229.
  • Stolz, E., Mayerl, H., & Freidl, W. (2021). The impact of COVID-19 restriction measures on loneliness among older adults in Austria. European Journal of Public Health, 31(1), 44–49.
  • Şahan, A. G., Açıkgöz, A., Yörük, S. & Güler, D. (2023). Loneliness of Elderly Individuals and Associated Factors During the Covid-19 Pandemic in Turkey. Balıkesir Health Sciences Journal, 12(3), 603-610. https://doi.org/10.53424/balikesirsbd.1109630
  • T.R. Ministry of Health. (2020). COVID-19 weekly situation report 12/10/2020–18/10/2020 Türkiye. Retrieved from https://covid19.saglik.gov.tr/Eklenti/39168/0/covid-19-haftalik-durum-raporu---42-haftapdf.pdf?_tag1=710A3D148C11F8852B0DDC1FB4EE49DAE667F46D
  • Turkish Statistical Institute. (2020). Elderly with statistics, 2020. Retrieved from https://data.tuik.gov.tr/Bulten/Index?p=Istatistiklerle-Yaslilar-2020-37227
  • Tüzün Özdemir, S., & Usta Yeşilbalkan, Ö. (2024). Adherence to Treatment in Geriatric Oncology Patients. Sağlık Bakım Ve Rehabilitasyon Dergisi, 3(3), 70-78.
  • Wickens, C. M., McDonald, A. J., Elton-Marshall, T., Wells, S., Nigatu, Y. T., & Jankowicz, D. (2021). Loneliness in the COVID-19 pandemic: Associations with age, gender, and their interaction. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 136, 103–108.
  • World Health Organization (WHO). (2020). Coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Retrieved from https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/question-and-answers-hub/q-a-detail/coronavirus-disease-covid-19
  • Wu, B. (2020). Social isolation and loneliness among older adults in the context of COVID-19: A global challenge. Global Health Research and Policy, 5, 27.
There are 33 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Subjects ​Internal Diseases Nursing​
Journal Section Research Articles
Authors

Hülya Kankaya 0000-0003-3154-9103

Beyza Yıldırak

Emine Karaman

Publication Date August 31, 2025
Submission Date January 15, 2025
Acceptance Date August 5, 2025
Published in Issue Year 2025 Volume: 4 Issue: 2

Cite

APA Kankaya, H., Yıldırak, B., & Karaman, E. (2025). Loneliness of Elderly and Affecting Factors During the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study. Sağlık Bakım Ve Rehabilitasyon Dergisi, 4(2), 1-10.