Study Of The Loneliness Of Empty-nest Elders And Its Group Counseling Intervention

With the increasing psychological issues of the empty-nester elders, researchers are nowpaying intensive attention to such special group of elders. There have been reports on thestudy of loneliness in China. On the other hand, the study focusing on the empty-nester eldersis relatively preliminary and is largely on the basis of abroad questionnaires while lacking oflocalized ones. Our study aims to design such a questionnaire suitable for the empty-nestelders in our country, investigate the characterization of their loneliness, and study the impactof group counseling.Based on the literature review, open questionnaire and expertise knowledge, we proposed amodel for characterizing the loneliness of empty-nest elders. According to the results fromexploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis, we established the structure forthe loneliness of empty-nest elders, which consists of three dimensions, i.e. ego loneliness,emotional loneliness, and social loneliness. We then designed our own questionnaire for theloneliness of empty-nest elders and evaluated its reliability and validity with respect tomultiple factors. In addition, we also investigated the characterization of the loneliness ofempty-nest elders and studied the impact of group counseling. In conclusion:(1) The loneliness of empty-nest has three dimensions, that is, Own Sexual loneliness,emotional loneliness and social loneliness. The reliability and validity of our ownquestionnaire meet the basic requirement of psychometrics.(2) Except for the emotional loneliness, the total score of the loneliness of empty-nestelders and that of other two factors are above average, indicating a moderate level ofloneliness.(3) The three dimensions of the loneliness of empty-nest elders have no significantdifference with respect to age while their average scores do.(4) The three dimensions of the loneliness of empty-nest elders have no significant difference with respect to gender while their average scores do. Male have higherscore than female.(5) The loneliness of empty-nest elders of total score and that of the two dimensions ofego loneliness and social loneliness have no significant difference, but they differsignificantly in the dimension of emotional loneliness.(6) Group intervention relieved effectively the level of loneliness of empty-nest elders.The loneliness of empty-nest elders is apparently higher than that of group with lowerage. Our work provides insights to the study of geriatricpsychology through broaderinvestigation of the loneliness concept and deeper understanding of the loneliness structure, aswell as more thorough intervention of elders group with high-level loneliness.