Evaluating the Perception of Life Satisfaction and Social Support of the Elderly Individuals

Abstract

ABSTRACTObjective: We aimed to determine the general profiles and health problems of the elderly individuals living in nursing homes (NHs), evaluate the life satisfaction and social support perception of these individuals in terms of sociodemographic variables, and provide a relationship between life satisfaction and social support perception variables.Materials and methods: Six NHs in Turkey were selected for the study. Data were collected through a questionnaire and analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences Software (SPSS™) version 17.00 software for Windows.Results: The average age of the participants was 75.926 years. Majority of them were males, homeless, and elderly individuals with a chronic disease. Additionally, cardiovascular disease was most commonly diagnosed, and majority of them took the least one drug daily. The participants were generally satisfied with the NHs. Further, it was found that life satisfaction of the participants was at a partially high level, and social support perception was at the moderate level. It was determined that life satisfaction of the participants showed significant differences according to the marital status, education, social security, economic condition, having a relative, daily activity, willingness toward performing the activities, relation with other elders, relation with the staff, and general satisfaction with the NH (p<0.05). The social support perception of the participants showed significant differences according tothe gender, marital status, education, social security, economic condition, state of seeing children, willingness toward performing activities, relations with other elders, relations with the staff, and general satisfaction with NH (p<0.05).Conclusions: Life satisfaction and social support perception of the participants change according to the sociodemographic variables. Further, a positive and strong correlation was found between life satisfaction and social support perception.