ASSOCIATED FACTORS OF LONELINESS AMONG COMMUNITY DWELLING OLDER PEOPLE AT EAST COAST, MALAYSIA

Loneliness is an unpleasant emotional feeling which may experience to older people due to an increased number of chronic illnesses, declines in physical function, the death of spouse or significant others, or retirement. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence and the associated factors of loneliness among community-dwelling older people. A cross-sectional, door to door survey was conducted at four districts in Kuala Terengganu. A total of 240 community dwelling older people aged 60 years old and above were participated in this study. Several tools were used such as Geriatric Depression Scale, Elderly Cognitive Assessment Questionnaire (ECAQ), The University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Loneliness Scale, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), Barthel Modified Index, Lawton –Brody Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Scale, and The Duke University Religion Index (DUREL). Descriptive statistic was applied to measure prevalence and logistic regression to determine the association of depression with background variables.The prevalence of loneliness among older people in community dwelling was 33%. Other than that, the multiple logistic regression model revealed that the older people with depression symptoms (aOR=20.97; CI=9.80; 44.89), cognitive impairment (aOR =2.31; CI =1.03; 5.17) and older people were not received any formal education (aOR =11.46; CI =3.51; 37.37) and primary education level (aOR =7.12; CI =2.43; 20.84), impaired functional status (aOR =2.18; CI =1.14; 4.18), lack of social support (aOR =1.98; CI =1.06; 53.68), and low of religiosity practice (aOR =4.06; CI =1.27; 12.99) were associated with loneliness among older people in community dwelling. Therefore, screening the elderly at primary care is needed for early detection of depressive symptoms and initiation of community-based intervention in psychological aspects is needed to address the issue.