Relationship of depression and loneliness with quality of life in rural widowed elderly women living alone.

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OBJECTIVES: Rural widowed elderly women living alone may face higher risks of depression and loneliness than general elderly people, which will have an impact on their quality of life. This study aims to explore the correlation of depression and loneliness with quality of life among rural widowed elderly women living alone. METHODS: A two-stage cluster sampling method was used to select 234 rural widowed older women living alone in Longshan county, Xiangxi autonomous prefecture, Hunan Province, and a questionnaire survey was conducted with the General Situation Questionnaire, the Geriatric Depression Scale-15 (GDS-15), the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Loneliness Scale-8 (ULS-8), and the 36 Items Short Form Health Survey (SF-36). CONCLUSIONS: Depression and loneliness can affect the quality of life of rural widowed older women living alone. In healthy aging efforts, the quality of life of these rural widowed older women can be improved by strengthening the management of underlying illnesses, increasing income, and alleviating depression and loneliness.