Do Loneliness and Health Anxiety Affect Eating Behaviours of the Elderly?
Aging Medicine and Healthcare, cilt.16, sa.2, ss.161-172, 2025 (ESCI, Scopus)
- Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
- Cilt numarası: 16 Sayı: 2
- Basım Tarihi: 2025
- Doi Numarası: 10.33879/amh.162.2024.10110
- Dergi Adı: Aging Medicine and Healthcare
- Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), Scopus
- Sayfa Sayıları: ss.161-172
- Anahtar Kelimeler: Elderly, emotional appetite, health anxiety, loneliness, nursing home
- Sağlık Bilimleri Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
Background/Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine the effects of loneliness and health anxiety levels on emotional appetite and eating behaviors of the elderly living in nursing homes. Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, a questionnaire consisting of face-to-face socio-demographic information, dietary habits, Loneliness Scale for the Elderly (LSE), Eating Attitude Test (EAT-40), Emotional Appetite Questionnaire (EMAQ), and Health Anxiety Inventory-Short Form (HAI-SF) was applied to the elderly (65 years and over, n = 449 living in four different nursing homes in Istanbul, Türkiye). The data were analyzed using the SPSS v26 (IBM Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) software package. Results: It was found that 22.0% of the elderly were obese and 44.3% of them had a high health risk according to the waist/hip ratio. A positive correlation was found between elderly BMI values and LSE scores, a negative correlation between their waist circumference and LSE scores, and a positive correlation between their hip circumference and EAT-40 scores (p < 0.05). In addition, there was a negative effect of elderly LSE scores on the EMAQ-Negative (EMAQ-N) scores (β =-1.003; p < 0.001) and a positive effect on the EMAQ-Positive (EMAQ-P) scores (β = 0.577; p < 0.001). A positive effect of HAI-SF scores of the elderly on EAT-40 scores was determined (β = 0.189; p < 0.001). A positive correlation was found between elderly LSE and HAI-SF scores with EAT-40 scores (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Loneliness affects emotional appetite and eating behavior negatively, whereas health anxiety affects eating behavior positively.