Safety Consciousness of the Elderly Living Alone

Purpose: This study aims to explore the effect of physical, emotional and environmental status on safety consciousness of the elderly who live alone. Methods: A total of 228 participants were the elderly living alone aged 65 years and older. Three questionnaires were developed to measure safety consciousness, physical status, and environmental status by researchers. Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) was used to evaluate emotional status of the elderly. Data were analyzed by t-test, ANOVA, Pearson's correlation coefficients, and stepwise multiple regression. Results: Average scores of participants were $3.71{\pm}1.49$ (range 0~6) for physical status, $8.28{\pm}3.38$ (range 0~15) for environmental status, $7.21{\pm}3.40$ (range 0~15) for GDS and $17.00{\pm}6.54$ (range 0~37) for safety consciousness. Safety consciousness was significantly associated with education, marital status, drinking, and depression as emotional status. These variables explained 13.6% of the variance in safety consciousness. Conclusion: The levels of safety consciousness among the elderly living alone were low. Education, marital status, drinking, and depression were the factors affecting safety consciousness. Risk assessment and management of these factors are needed to increase safety consciousness of the elderly.

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