| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立暨南國際大學 === 輔導與諮商研究所 === 100 === This study explores the psychological needs of elderly living alone and aims to know the psychological adjustment problems and coping strategies of the elderly, to understand what they need psychologically, and to offer some suggestions for future study in the field of elderly living alone.
The study interviewed with six elder persons over 65 years old who live alone and studies the data with thematic analysis. The result is shown below:
A. The sources of anxiety of elderly living alone come from: a feeling of no self-value, a sense of ambivalence when passing on the experience to the younger generation, finding no listener to their worries, the anxiety about illness, the fear of body degeneration, the pain of facing the death of their children, the struggle in dealing with their widowed lives, and a sense of loneliness caused by fickleness of human nature.
B. To solve the problems above, this study provides the following suggestions: The elderly living alone should hold a positive attitude toward any challenge in life, restart their lives with new life purpose, enlist the psychological support from religious belief, stop from attributing any misfortunes to destiny, rebuild a stable relationship with the new company, use media to connect their lives with the community, find a sense of
contentment by being looked after, and finally hope for future.
C. This study finds that the psychological needs of elderly living alone can often be seen as: aspiring freedom, hoping to be associated with the community, taking care of the family, arranging their funerals, hoping to be respected from others, finding the value of being an elder person, recounting young life story, passing knowledge to the young people, finding a way to relieve their pressure, and the need of being provided with information about their health condition.
Accordingly, some suggestions for future research and mental health care of elderly living alone are also provided in the study.
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