• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.417-431
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• 2007

This study investigates the differences among residental areas in the health, standard of living, and social relationships of female elderly living alone. The total of 501 subjects(185 from rural areas, 159 from fishing communities, 77 from the islands, and 80 from urban areas) were questioned from May to July, 2006. The research area was confined to Chungcheong Province. The female elderly living alone of this study were an average of seventy-three years old, had a low cost of living, and received little formal school education. Over sixty percent(60.3) of them lived on less than thirty dollars a month which was the recognized Korean poverty level in 2006. The female elderly living alone were evaluated as being in good health, but they themselves perceived their health as being poor. Observed by residential areas, the subjects in urban areas were lower in ADL, and both the urban dwellers and the islanders appeared to be higher in their satisfaction with medical services as compared to those in rural areas and fishing communities. The fishing villagers showed the lowest standard of living for female elderly living alone. The analysis of social relationships as seen in the different residental areas revealed that the female elderly living alone g in urban areas tended to be receiving social supports rather than providing for others, and subjects living in fishing areas and the islands proved to be relatively higher in the exchange of social supports. In relation to offspring, the female elderly living alone in urban areas had a lower frequency of meeting with their children and also a lesser degree of intimacy with them because they lived at a distance. On the other hand, subjects living in rural areas and fishing communities had a higher frequency of meeting with their children and a greater degree of intimacy with them even if they lived at a distance. The study also showed that the female elderly living alone in the islands had a higher frequency of once meeting per three week with their offspring and a higher degree of intimacy with them because they all live in the same islands. In conclusion, the subject living in urban areas appeared to be isolated from their offspring as compared to the other seniors in the study. The female elderly living alone in urban areas suffered from an insufficient network of relatives and neighbors, and they experienced a poor quality of relationships to their offspring. Almost all of the lone seniors in the study had a low score in social activities; however, the female elderly living alone in urban areas revealed a higher level of participation in volunteer activities, group activities, and educational activities. Nevertheless, the lone seniors living in urban areas were not satisfied with their participation in social activities. The subjects living in rural in fishing communities and the islands showed more participation in money-making activities. This study suggests that the policies for female elderly living alone should reflect the differences of regional characteristics.

• Industry Promotion Research
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.73-79
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• 2020

This study aims to study the problems and solutions of institutional support for the elderly living alone, focusing on the General Support for Living Alone Elderly announced by the Ministry of Health and Welfare in 2018. Results, First, a customized support system for the elderly living alone should be introduced. In order to improve the life satisfaction of the elderly living alone, it is necessary to develop a program that meets the most basic daily life needs, and a specific plan and a support system to link services should be prepared. Second, it is necessary to increase social interest in the elderly living alone. Solving problems for the elderly living alone should be preceded by social interest in the elderly living alone. For this, it is necessary to strengthen the social network. Third, it proposes legislation and amendment for the elderly living alone. Some revisions of existing laws have limitations, and are resolved through individual laws, such as standards and definitions for various types of elderly jobs, reorganization of the delivery system including agencies dedicated to elderly jobs, workers-related regulations, and preferential purchase systems for senior products. It is desirable to do. In conclusion, welfare support for the elderly living alone should be comprehensive and comprehensive. For the welfare of the elderly living alone, personalized care services should be provided first, and social support for the elderly living alone should be promoted on the basis of increasing social interest, and laws and revisions must be actively and proactively made for the elderly living alone.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.765-777
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• 2008

Purpose: This study was a descriptive survey research to compare and to examine the levels of health status, depression, and quality of life between the elderly living with family and the elderly living alone, the relations among the factors. Methods: Subjects were the 441 elderly over 65 years old(243 elderly living with family; 198 elderly living alone) in Seoul and Gyung-gi province. Data were collected from January to March, 2007. Collected data were analyzed through SAS/PC 11.0 version. Results: First, the health status and quality of life in the elderly living with family were higher than them in the elderly living alone. Also depression in the elderly living with family was lower than that in the elderly living alone. Second, in all elderly there was positive correlation between health status and depression. There were negative correlations between health status and quality of life, and between depression and quality of life. Third, the economic environments in all elderly did effect to the health status, depression, and quality of life. conclusion: In conclusion, it's requested a special attention of the current job level or interpersonal relationship of older people.

• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.140-148
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• 2008

This study was conducted to compare of health status, dietary behaviors and nutrient intakes according to family types of the elderly in rural areas. Family types were divided into three types-elderly living alone, elderly living with spouse, and elderly living with spouse and children. Subjects were 119 persons aged over 65 years (34 male, 85 females) living in rural areas and period of survey was from 29 January 2007 to 2 February. General environmental factors, health status, dietary behaviors and nutrient intakes were compared according to family types, the elderly living along showed a significantly lower in monthly income(p<0.01), self perceived health status(p<0.001), Instrumental Activity of Daily Living(IADL) score, and General Self Efficacy Scale(GSES) score compared to the elderly living with spouse and those living with spouse and children. However, Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale(CES-D) was higher than those of the elderly living family members (p<0.05). In addition, sum of dietary behavior score was the lowest in the elderly living alone (22.3 in elderly living alone, 24.1 in elderly living with spouse, 23.4 in elderly living with spouse and children, p<0.001) and nutrient intakes of potassium, zinc, vitamin C(p<0.01 respectively), calcium, phosphorus, iron, vitamin A, vitamin E, vitamin B6 and folic acid(p<0.05 respectively) also reported to be significantly lower in the elderly living alone than in others of two types. From these results, health status, dietary behavior pattern and nutrient intakes of the elderly living alone were found to be inadequate overall, so measures to deal with these health and nutritional status were needed.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.99-110
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• 2017

Objectives: I examined the health and oral health status of elderly people living alone compared to elderly people living with their families by using data (2014) from the 6th Two-Year Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Methods: Among 1,454 health survey respondents aged 65 years and over who participated in the 6th Two-Year Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey conducted in 2014, 311 were elderly people living alone and 1,143 were elderly people living with their families. Results: In terms of socio-demographic characteristics, the percentage of elderly people living alone was high especially in women and when the subjects' age, education level, and income level were low. In terms of oral health status, the percentage of elderly people living alone was high when elderly people thought that their subjectively viewed health was poor and the frequency of drinking and exercise was low. In terms of oral health status, the percentage of elderly people living alone was high among elderly people who did not have good oral health in their subjective view and did not get oral examinations for a year and had a lot of difficulty chewing. Conclusions: Family support or additional social support for elderly people who live alone should be considered to promote the healthy lives of elderly people.

• The Journal of Korean Society for School & Community Health Education
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.83-96
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• 2021

Background & objectives: Cognitive function decline is a main factor influencing the overall life of the elderly and places a burden of society. The aime of this study was to investigate the risk factors of cognitive function decline of elderly living alone and living with a spouse. Methods: This study used the Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing from 2014 to 2018. 243 older adults who lived alone and 1,155 lived with a spouse with the Korean version of Mini Mental State Examination scores in normal range at the time of 2014 were included in the analysis. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to determine the difference of risk factors affecting cognitive function decline between in elderly living alone and elderly living with a spouse. Results: Cognitive function decline incidence rate of elderly living alone was 30.5% and the elderly living with a spouse showed 23.0%. According to the results of logistic regression analysis, the risk factors of cognitive function decline in the elderly living alone was age and residential area, while in the elderly living with a spouse were age, education level, social networks, and depression. Conclusions: The factors that affect the cognitive function decline of the elderly living alone and the elderly living with a spouse were different. Accordingly, other measures to prevent cognitive decline are necessary.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.94-105
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• 1997

The degree of nursing service requirement can be determined by functional health status and a predictive explanation for the status on the living-alone elderly is essential to plan home-care nursing intervention. The purpose of this study is to explore the functional health status of living-alone elderly. Especially the main purpose is to contrast the differences of the status between the residential living-alone elderly and institutional living-alone elderly. This study was conducted through the interview by the students of nurse college who were previously trained during the months of Oct. and Nov. 1996. Sample participants located in Tong-Gu and Seo-Gu of Kwangju City. To contrast the functional health status. this study tried to utilize the Activity Inventory(AI). Among the AI's this study adopted the Physical Activity of Daily Living(PADL) and Instrumental Activity of Daily Living(IADL). Results of the study show that the home-care nursing intervention for the living-alone elderly is urgent more for the residential than for the institutional. It seems that the residential living-alone elderly suffer from inability in Physical Activity of Daily Living. As the residential elderly who have some physical lacks prefer the institution. it is recommended to support physical lacks for the institutional. And more mental-emotional support is recommended for the residential living-alone elderly. The degree of the residential's IADL is higher than that of the institutional. It seems that it was caused by the reason that the residential's needs for the minimum level of life is greater than that of the institutional. So the polypharmacy in elderly nursing-home residents must be considered as sigificant.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.264-273
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• 2012

This study analyzes the food frequency for the elderly regarding different family types and finds the factors for nutritional risk, offers a basic reference for providing nutritional support for them. The study referred to the dietary behavioral survey data of 3,680 elderly people (1652 male and 2028 female) from 21 regions in the northern Kyeonggi province. The data was collected through the method of one-to-one interviews and was a part of the Community Health Survey for 2008 by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC). We classified family types as a household for elderly people living alone, a household of elderly people with a spouse, a household of the elderly with unmarried children and a household of the elderly with married children, and as for intakes of foods, the frequencies of taking fruits, vegetables, kimchi, rice with mixed cereals, meat, fish, bean tofu soymilk, milk and dairy products, as well as sweet beverages are calculated on a daily basis and skipped meals are calculated on a weekly basis. Elderly women showed lower income, lower education level, higher unemployment rates, and a higher rate of government healthcare subsidies than elderly men. Elderly women tend to live alone and with their children while elderly men tend to live with their spouse. In both males and females, the intake of fruits and vegetables were the least in the elderly living alone, while the elderly with married children ate the most. In both males and females, the household of the elderly living alone ate significantly less amounts of Kimchi than other family types. Elderly people living alone tended to have significantly less meat and fish, especially women. In the case of rice with mixed cereals, the elderly men living alone and the elderly men with unmarried children ate significantly less amounts than the elderly men living with a spouse. The elderly men living alone took significantly less milk and dairy products than the elderly men with unmarried children while the elderly women living with a spouse took significantly less milk and dairy products than the elderly women with married children. With regards to the frequency of meal-skipping, the elderly living alone had the highest frequency for skipping meals. From this result, having various foods is difficult for the elderly living alone. Furthermore, the elderly living with unmarried children demonstrated a low quality of dietary life compared to those of married children. Hence, it can be concluded that social support is important in order for the elderly to have a balanced diet.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.355-364
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• 2011

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate factors that influenced depression of the elderly vulnerable people living alone in the public home visiting health service center. Methods: The participants for this study were 491 Korean elderly men living in G city. Data were collected from February to July, 2011 using structured questionnaires. ${\chi}^2$-test, t-test, Pearson's correlation coefficient and multiple regression with the SPSS/WIN program were used to analyze the data. Results: The levels of ADL and IADL of the elderly living alone were higher, and the levels of social support and life satisfaction were lower than the normal elderly. Depression was positively related to ADL and IADL and negatively to social support and life satisfaction in the elderly living alone. In addition, age, fall experience, ADL, IADL and life satisfaction had influence on the depression. Conclusion: The elderly living alone are in a more serious health status, especially in depression than the normal elderly. It is necessary to develop depression controlling intervention programs in order to promote healthy lifestyles for the elderly vulnerable people living alone.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Rural Health Nursing
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2021

Purpose: This study was aimed to compare health promotion behaviors and safety consciousness for elderly women living alone in rural areas and elderly women in group homes, and then provide information for the development of safety awareness programs for elderly. Methods: The participants were 120 elderly women living alone in rural areas aged 65 or older and 120 elderly women living in group homes. The data collection was conducted during November 2020, and the collected data used the SPSS/WIN 25.0 program to verify frequency, percentage, average, standard deviation, and independent t test. Results: There were significant differences of health promotion behaviors between elderly women living alone and elderly women in group homes (t=15.77, p<.001). In addition, there were significant differences of safety consciousness between elderly women living alone and elderly women in group homes (t=21.42, p<.001). Conclusion: Since the safety consciousness and health promotion behaviors of the elderly in group homes are significantly higher than that of the elderly living alone, various programs should be developed to improve the safety consciousness and health promotion behaviors in the elderly living alone. Based on local government' acts, continuous support and attention is needed that elderly women in group homes can maintain a healthy life.