Loneliness and Depression Among Turkish Community-dwelling Older Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Objective: In critical periods such as pandemics, the mental health needs of the older adults population should be one of the focal points of public health services. This study aims to investigate the loneliness and depression of older adults living in the community in Turkey during the Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.Materials and Methods: It is a cross-sectional and descriptive-analytical research. The sample size of the study was calculated as 510 people. Older adults aged 60 and over, residing in the province for at least one year, no history of severe psychiatric or neurological disorders, no severe clinical or psychiatric disorders, and living at home were included in the study. Data were collected with a questionnaire, Ascertain Dementia 8 (AD8), Geriatric Depression Scale-Short Form, and the University of California, Los Angeles Loneliness Scale (ULS).Results: 58% of the older adults were between the ages of 60-69, 47% were women, 64% were married, and their mean GDS-SF score was 4.1 (standard deviation 3.4). It has been determined that factors related to socio-demographic characteristics as well as factors related to pre-pandemic health status and factors related to the negative effects of the disease on health have a decisive effect on depression in older adults during the pandemic process (p<0.05).Conclusion: Depression in older adults is under the influence of many other factors that made them vulnerable even before the COVID-19 pandemic, rather than the direct effects of the pandemic. Accordingly, the older adults who live alone are a high-risk group.