Evaluation of the sense of loneliness and its selected subjective determinants in patients after stroke

Introduction:
A stroke and the related limitations in functional and emotional capacity, as well as the need for hospitalization, may contribute to the feeling of loneliness of the sick person. Aim of the research: To evaluate the level of sense of loneliness as an explanatory factor and the levels of its selected subjective determinants – self-esteem, acceptance of the illness, social support and temporal quality of life – as explanatory factors in patients after stroke, taking into account sex and brain hemisphere damaged as its result.

Material and methods:
The studies included 97 patients after stroke including 51 (52.58%) males and 46 (47.42%) females, with an average age of approximately 70 years. A diagnostic survey method was used in the study, using the research tools – 6 Scales and the authorial sociometric interview questionnaire. The obtained results were subjected to statistical analysis, taking into account gender and brain hemisphere damaged as a result of a stroke. The results obtained from the diagnostic survey and the sociometric interview were statistically analyzed and all p-values below 0.05 were interpreted as indicating a significant relationship.

Results:
In our study, statistically significant differences were found between the study patients with respect to the hemisphere of the brain affected by the stroke in the dimension of actually received support. The level of romantic loneliness also showed significant differences between the genders of the study subjects. There were no statistically significant associations of the gender of the studied patients and the hemisphere of the brain affected by the stroke with the levels of self-esteem, acceptance of illness and temporal satisfaction with life. In the assessment of the level of social support, family loneliness and social loneliness also showed no significant differences between the genders of the study subjects or between the subjects grouped by brain hemisphere affected by stroke.

Conclusions:
The average level of self-esteem, social support, temporal life satisfaction, a higher average sense of loneliness in the dimensions of romantic, family and social loneliness, and a low average level of illness acceptance indicate the need for psychological support reinforced with social support for stroke patients.