Loneliness, resilience, and psychological wellbeing among the elderly selected from three districts in Uganda.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between loneliness, resilience and psychological wellbeing among the elderly in Uganda and to assess whether resilience moderates loneliness with psychological wellbeing. Three hundred participants were selected using simple random sampling techniques. A correlation research design was used. To determine the relationship between loneliness, resilience and psychological wellbeing, a Stastical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to compute the Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient. Model 1 of PROCESS macro was used to determine the moderation effect of resilience on loneliness and psychological wellbeing. Activity, disengagement and psychosocial theories of aging were used. Findings revealed a positive significant relationship between resilience and psychological wellbeing (r = .49, p< .01). However, loneliness was negatively but significantly related to both resilience (r =.-56, p < .01) and psychological wellbeing (r =.-35, p < .01). For moderation analysis results revealed that Loneliness had a negative significant effect on the psychological wellbeing of the elderly (B = -10, t = -3.03), whereas the moderating variable (resilience had a positive significant effect on psychological wellbeing of the elderly (B = .19, t = 4.94). The moderation analysis also revealed significant interaction effects of loneliness and resilience on psychological wellbeing (B = .10, t = -2.05, p = .041). Analysis of the conditional or moderation effcts that revealed loneliness had non significant effects on psychological wellbeing at low levels of resilience (B= -05, t = -12.29, p = .199). The effects of loneliness were significant ataverage (B = -.10 t = -3.03, p = .003) and high levels of resilience (B = -.15, t = - 3.23, p = .001). Conclusively psychological wellbeing would greatly improve when loneliness decreased and resilience increased among the elderly persons. It was recommended that in Uganda, the psychological wellbeing of the elderly be developed by reducing their loneliness