Quality of life and loneliness

Ageing is a universal phenomenon and a natural biological process of the life cycle. As people enter old age, they begin to experience associated changes in their physical, mental and social health. Old age is usually connected with different types of problems encountered by the aged physical diseases, psychological illness and adjustment problems are common during this phase of life. The quality of life of non-institutionalized elderly was more than compared to institutionalized elderly. The elderly living in the community had greater psychological and social relationships than the institutionalized elderly. Loneliness was more among the institutionalized elderly than among the non-institutionalized elderly. Depression was associated with loneliness in institutionalized elderly. The elderly are at risk for loneliness, and depression and interventions to promote social connectedness are needed to directly address this problem. Intervention programme such as preventive lifestyle-oriented intervention is helpful in improving the well-being of the elderly. One-to-one contact and group activity had the highest impact on social connectedness.