獨居老年長者之心理需求探究

本研究主要探討「獨居老年長者在心理上的需求」議題，研究目的在於：一、探討獨居老年長者的心理適應困難及因應策略；二、探討獨居老年長者的心理需求；三、根據研究結果，對獨居老年長者之心理服務提出省思與建議。本研究採用深度訪談方式蒐集資料，訪談6位65歲以上之獨居老年長者，以「主題分析法」進行資料分析，研究結果如下：一、獨居老年長者的心理適應困難，分別為「無存在價值的自我暗示」、「與後輩傳承經驗的心理矛盾」、「內心話找不到適合的對象傾訴」、「對未來生病的焦慮」、「對生理功能急速退化的恐懼」、「喪子沉痛的心理壓力」、「面對喪偶的心理壓力」、「人情冷暖的孤單」。二、獨居老年長者在心理適應上的策略，分別為「調整心態去面對獨居的生活型態轉變」、「重新建構有結構的生活重心」、「尋求宗教的精神支持」、「轉念：相欠債」、「喪偶牽引新生活目標和新情感連結」、「以媒體做為與他人外在世界連結的媒介物」、「生理需求的照顧，成為心理滿足的基礎」、「希望感的灌注」。三、獨居老年長者的心理需求，分別為「自由的心理需求」、「渴望與他人連結的心理需求」、「照顧世代責任的心理需求」、「後事預備的心理需求」、「尊重的心理需求」、「自我存在價值的心理需求」、「述說早期經驗的心理需求」、「教導晚輩賦能的心理需求」、「紓解照顧壓力的心理需求」、「照顧和生理資訊的心理需求」。根據以上研究結果，本研究提出建議，以做為未來研究及專業人員在獨居老年長者心理健康照護服務之參考。

關鍵字

獨居老年長者；心理需求；主題分析

並列摘要

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.