Introduction: This study aims at identifying loneliness and social support level of elderly people living in
nursing homes.
Materials and Method: The population of this descriptive and cross-sectional study consists of elder people
who was living in Adana Nursing Home and 70 elderly people who were applied “Standardized Mini Mental
Test” and were found to normal cognitive functions as a result of the test were included in the study in line with
their will. In data collection, “Personal Information Form” was used for socio-demographic features of elderly
people, “Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS)” for evaluation of social support status
of elderly people and “UCLA-Loneliness Scale” for identifying their loneliness level. Independent-Samples T,
ANOVA, Tukey and Pearson correlation coefficiency methods were used in data analysis. Statistical
significance were recognized as p<0.05.
Results: The average age of the participants was 72.76±8.68, 77.1% of males and 65.7% females stated their
reason for staying in the institution was loneliness. The average score for UCLA loneliness scale was
41.74±11.52. The average score for MSPSS was 47.43±20.26. A weak correlation was found between MSPSS
and UCLA-loneliness scale in negative direction (p <0,05).
Conclusion: It was found that majority of elderly people who participated in the study and live in the nursing
home stay there due to their loneliness, they feel a medium level of loneliness, they have good level of social
support and as the social support increase their loneliness decrease
