Department of Culture and Society, Linköping University, Campus Norrköping, Sweden.
Gerontologist. 2023 Aug 24;63(7):1140-1148. doi: 10.1093/geront/gnad005.
Loneliness and exclusion from social relations (ESR) are frequently addressed as public health issues for older adults. Public discourses potentially influence how loneliness and ESR are understood in society and experienced by the individual. The aim of this study was to analyze how older adults in different parts of Sweden use the discourses and concepts available to them to describe experiences of ESR and loneliness, and how these descriptions are used to construct a self-identity.
Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 individuals (14 men, 16 women) aged 67-87 years and living in Sweden. Emphasis was, in line with perspectives of discursive psychology, on how individuals draw on discourses to make sense of experiences. The empirical material was analyzed through an inductive process where we were open to finding concepts and themes.
Most participants emphasized the importance of not being lonely, considered achievable through maintaining an active lifestyle. "Othering" was taking place, where a general image of a "lonely" older adult was referred to when speaking about "others" loneliness. Those who expressed feelings of loneliness related these feelings to loss, being omitted, and other difficult life circumstances.
States of ESR were discussed more comfortably than loneliness, whereas various linguistic resources were used to distance themselves from loneliness. These findings indicate the need for further studies elaborating on how older adults make sense of ESR and loneliness and what implications this has for older adults' well-being and identity making.
孤独和被社会关系排斥（ESR）经常被视为老年人的公共卫生问题。公共话语可能会影响社会对孤独和 ESR 的理解以及个体的体验。本研究旨在分析瑞典不同地区的老年人如何利用现有的话语和概念来描述 ESR 和孤独感的体验，以及这些描述如何用于构建自我认同。
对 30 名年龄在 67-87 岁、居住在瑞典的个体（14 名男性，16 名女性）进行了定性半结构式访谈。根据话语心理学的观点，重点是个人如何利用话语来理解体验。通过一种归纳过程对实证材料进行了分析，我们对发现概念和主题持开放态度。
大多数参与者强调了保持积极生活方式的重要性，以避免孤独感。“他者化”正在发生，当谈到“他人”的孤独时，会提到一个普遍的“孤独”老年人形象。那些表达孤独感的人将这些感觉与失落、被忽视和其他困难的生活环境联系起来。
ESR 的状态比孤独感更容易被讨论，而各种语言资源被用来使自己远离孤独感。这些发现表明需要进一步研究，阐述老年人如何理解 ESR 和孤独感，以及这对老年人的幸福感和身份认同有何影响。
