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The loneliness experience of the dying and of those who care for them

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 May 2007

AMI ROKACH ,
RAAN MATALON ,
ARTEM SAFAROV  and
MICHAELA BERCOVITCH
AMI ROKACH
Affiliation:
The Institute for the Study and Treatment of Psychosocial Stress, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
RAAN MATALON
Affiliation:
The Institute for the Study and Treatment of Psychosocial Stress, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
ARTEM SAFAROV
Affiliation:
The Institute for the Study and Treatment of Psychosocial Stress, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
MICHAELA BERCOVITCH
Affiliation:
Palliative Care Department, Sheba Medical Center, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
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Abstract

Objective: The study compared the qualitative aspects of the loneliness experience of the dying, their caregivers, and the general population.

Method: The patients were recruited in an oncological hospice in Israel, and, despite being on their deathbed, agreed to participate in the study. Thirty-seven cancer-stricken patients, 78 caregivers, and 128 participants from the general population volunteered to partake in the study. They answered, anonymously, a 30-item questionnaire and were asked to endorse those items that described their experience of loneliness.

Results: Results suggested that the three populations did, indeed, differ in their experience of loneliness. More specifically, dying patients and their caregivers had significantly higher subscale scores on the Growth and Discovery and the Self-alienation subscales than the general population did. It was also found that the number of hospitalization days was significantly negatively correlated to the Emotional Distress and Self-alienation subscales.

Significance of results: The present results indicate that loneliness is experienced differently in or out of the hospice and by the dying patient, his or her caregiver, and the general population. This may be the first study to examine the qualitative aspects of the loneliness experienced by the dying and by their caregivers. More research is needed to replicate the present study, using larger samples.

Keywords

LonelinessHospiceCaregiversOncologyCancerDying
Type
Research Article
Information
Palliative & Supportive Care , Volume 5 , Issue 2 , June 2007 , pp. 153 - 159
Copyright
© 2007 Cambridge University Press

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