Psychological Problems as Perceived by Institutionalized and Non-Institutionalized Elderly

Abstract

Ageing is a universal phenomenon and natural biological process of the life cycle. As people enter old age, they begin to experience associated changes in their physical, mental & social health. Therefore, elderly people are vulnerable to physiological and mental crisis. The aim of this study is to assess psychological problems as perceived by institutionalized and non-institutionalized elderly, utilizing a descriptive comparative research design. A sample of convenience of 90 elderly which will be divided into: 45 institutionalized elderly was recruited from Hedaya Barakat geriatric home in El-Dokki district, Giza city, Egypt and 45 non- institutionalized elderly was recruited from Pension and Disbursement settings, Cairo district, Egypt. Socio-demographic sheet, and psychological problems scale for elderly. The findings revealed that; the studied institutionalized elderly had higher levels of anxiety, loneliness, and depression than non institutionalized elderly and it was major problems. The study concludes that, psychological problems increase with growing of age among elderly. Recommendation: nursing by education programs should be held for psychiatric mental health nurses in order to help families develop a better understanding of elderly people health needs.

Keywords: psychological problems, institutionalized, non-institutionalized and elderly people.