3.1.1 Saying hello: Preserving mental health and coping with loneliness in later age (298)

Martin Johnson, Professor in Nursing, Salford Centre for Nursing, Midwifery and Collaborative Research, University of Salford, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom Co authors: Natalie Yates-Bolton, Julia Ryan, Steven Shardlow, Barbara Walmsley & Tracey Williamson m.johnson2@salford.ac.uk

Abstract:

Introduction:

The majority of older people live healthy and active lives, but the likelihood of exclusion from common activities increases considerably in the presence of ill health. Nationally about 15% of people over 65 have depression, and up to 750,000 people in the UK have some form of dementia. We know that perhaps one in ten of people over 65 years report feeling often or always lonely, increasing with greater age (Sharf et al. 2005). Furthermore, the level of isolation and loneliness resulting from the death of a spouse can lead to self harm and suicide in older age, particularly among older men (Dennis and Lindesay 1995).

Methods:

The project, which was based in Wigan, Lancashire, involved the recruitment and training of 13 people over the age of 50 who were supported in undertaking a considerable amount of data collection by individual and group interviews. Some data were in the form of self-authored narratives by older people in Wigan. Workshops were organised for volunteer researchers to contribute to analysis and interpretation. Respondents included 110 (76%) females and 34 males (24%) with a majority in the 65 to 84 age ranges. Of the total sample more than half (82) lived alone, 38 were married and living together and 7 lived with relatives. Of the total sample 62 described themselves as widowed, 11 were divorced and 6 single.

Results & conclusions:

The paper will outline key strategies by which older people in this study dealt with bereavement, alleviated loneliness and attempted to achieve contentment. The link between loneliness and deteriorating mental health is not in doubt (Minardi and Blanchard 2004). However, with sound intervention the cycle can be broken with social support, activity, and appropriate social or clinical help if necessary so that quality of life is maintained.

Biography:

Martin Johnson RN, MSc, PhD (Manch) Professor in Nursing University of Salford Centre for Nursing, Midwifery and Collaborative Research, (SCNMCR), Greater Manchester, UK. Current projects include ‘Saying Hello’ about older people coping with loneliness and a country-wide NES funded investigation into the outcomes of the Fitness for Practice curriculum in Scotland. He is the Editor of Nurse Education Today and a member of the 2008 RAE Unit 11 sub-panel. He is co-editor of Research Ethics in the Real World: Issues and Solutions for Health and Social Care. Churchill Livingstone, Elsevier Health Sciences. The book attempts to bring logic and common sense to the mysteries of research ethics in modern health care.