간호인력에 대한 노인의 친밀감 표현 연구

Abstract

Purpose : This study was conducted to examine elderly people's intimacy expression to caregivers. Method : A convenience sample of 176 elderly was recruited from elderly people with admission experience in hospitals or medical facilities. The study instrument for self esteem was 4 point 10 items designed by Rogenberg (1965) and translated by Jeon(1974), and for loneliness it was 5 point 10 items by Russel & Peplau(1980) and translated by Won(1994). Data were analyzed with the descriptive statistics, x²-test, and independent t-test using SPSS 15.0 program. Result : The percentage of elderly people with intimacy expression is 72.7%. Also, 81.3% of the non-expression group considered gratitude to be the reason for expressing intimacy within the intimacy-expression group . In addition, there were no differences found in the levels of self-esteem and loneliness between the intimacy expression group and non-expression group. Conclusion : The results showed that the elderly's intimacy expression to caregivers might not express sexual desire but express their loneliness or thankfulness. Therefore, caregivers should positively accept the elderly's intimacy expression and develop the program with physical or social contact for the elderly.