Loneliness, depression, and social support of Turkish patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and their spouses

Purpose: To identify the differences in loneliness, depression, and social support among Turkish patients with COPD and their spouses. Design: The convenience sample consisted of 30 patients with COPD and their spouses. Descriptive statistics, Student's t tests, and Pearson product moment correlations were used to analyse the data. Methods: Data were collected during structured interviews in an outpatient clinic in Turkey by using the UCLA Loneliness Scale, the Beck Depression Inventory and Perceived Social Support from Friends and family scales. Findings: Levels of loneliness, depression, and perceived social support from family and friends were similar for patients and spouses. Loneliness and depression were positively related, but both loneliness and depression were greater with less perceived social support from family and friends for both patients and their spouses. Conclusions: Patients' and spouses' psychologic reactions to COPD might include feelings of loneliness and depression, which might be alleviated by social support. (C) 2004 SIGMA THETA TAU INTERNATIONAL.