UTILIZAÇÃO DE SITES DE REDES SOCIAIS E APOIO SOCIAL ASSOCIADO À SOLIDÃO DE IDOSOS

Resumo

The objectives were to characterize the elderly according to sociodemographic variables, medications in regular use and use of social networking sites; measure social support and loneliness of the elderly and verify the association between the characterization variables and social support with loneliness. A cross-sectional telephone survey, carried out from May to July 2020, with 206 elderly people. Instruments validated in Brazil were used. Preliminary bivariate analysis and multiple linear regression were performed. Females were predominant, aged 60|-70 years, ≥ 8 years of schooling, married or with a partner, regularly used 1├5 medications, used WhatsApp several times a week to send and receive messages. The means obtained were 88.62±13.24 for social support and 9.43±9.40 for loneliness. Loneliness was associated with lack of education, use of polypharmacy and low affective support/positive social interaction. Loneliness is associated with social and therapeutic issues, emphasizing the need to implement them in health services for the elderly.