Loneliness and Anxiety before Death in Older Adults

Abstract

Introduction: The stage of old age facilitates the appearance of a loneliness feeling, which can increase the vulnerability of older adults to illness and deterioration of their mental health.

Objective: To describe the association between loneliness and death anxiety in Peruvian older adults.

Methods: A quantitative, cross-sectional and correlational study was carried out in two centers for the elderly in Lima Sur, Peru, from September to November 2022. A nonprobabilistic sampling was used and 300 participants of both sexes, between 60 and 85 years of age (mean age = 71.74, SD = 7.21), were chosen and evaluated by means of the Loneliness Scale and the Death Anxiety Scale. Pearson's correlation coefficient was used for data analysis. The data were interpreted in terms of statistical significance and effect size of the associations.

Results: The highest percentage of participants felt moderate loneliness (51 %) and a moderate level of anxiety (65 %). Loneliness obtained a direct and moderate association with death anxiety (r = 0.275, p < 0.001). In the dimensional analysis, only the dimension fear of life coming to an end correlated with loneliness in a moderate magnitude (0.277, p < 0.001).

Conclusions: The results support that, the greater the perception of loneliness, the greater will be the anxiety about death in the older adult.