A biological process that involves a series of functional changes that appear over time and are not the result of illness or accident.
Published in Chapter:
Loneliness Among Rural Elderly: Present and Future Public Health Challenges
Borja Rivero Jiménez (Universidad de Extremadura, Spain), Nuria María García Perales (Universidad de Extremadura, Spain), David Conde Caballero (Universidad de Extremadura, Spain), Beatriz Muñoz González (Universidad de Extremadura, Spain), Julián F. Calderón García (Universidad de Extremadura, Spain), and Lorenzo Mariano Juarez (Universidad de Extremadura, Spain)
Copyright: © 2020
|Pages: 14
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-9818-3.ch004
Abstract
Population aging is a great challenge for modern societies at the future and is a central issue in the development of public policies. In Spain, in rural regions, the demographic problem of aging must be added to the problem of migration. In this context, a direct consequence of the union of aging and depopulation appears: loneliness of the elderly rural populations. Several studies indicate that loneliness has a significant association with increased use of medical services. These medical analyses need to be complemented with conceptualizations that integrate them into broader views that analyze structural causes and consequences. This text reviews the types of measurement scales proposed by the academy and lists some of the campaigns carried out by the administrations. The authors will attempt to take a critical approach, analyzing how individualized and medicalized visions of loneliness have been led.