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. 2024 Dec 24;24(1):1036.
doi: 10.1186/s12877-024-05558-1.

Prevalence of self-neglect and related factors among older adults living in Western Turkey: a cross-sectional study

Canan Bulut Ayaz  1 , Melike Yalçin Gürsoy  2
Affiliations

Prevalence of self-neglect and related factors among older adults living in Western Turkey: a cross-sectional study

Canan Bulut Ayaz et al. BMC Geriatr. .

Abstract

Background: Self-neglect is a serious public health problem affecting older people. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of self-neglect and related factors in the elderly, which has become more important with the increase in the elderly population.

Methods: The cross-sectional study included individuals aged 65 years and over. Data were collected via face-to-face interviews using a questionnaire. The questionnaire content included questions related to sociodemographic and health-related characteristics, the Istanbul Medical School Elder Self-Neglect questionnaire, standardized Mini Mental State Examination, Geriatric Depression Scale: Short Form, and Katz Activities of Daily Living Scale. Factors associated with self-neglect were identified using logistic regression analysis.

Results: In this study, the prevalence of self-neglect in the elderly was 36.6%. In addition, living alone (OR: 2.71), low monthly income perception (OR: 1.86), poor/very poor health perception (OR: 2.30), having mild dementia (OR: 3.00), having severe dementia (OR: 4.54), being severely dependent (OR: 3.39) and lower levels of education (OR: 1.70) were found to be significant factors associated with self-neglect.

Conclusion: The results of this study showed that approximately one in three elderly people neglected themselves, and that some sociodemographic and health-related characteristics of the elderly were associated with self-neglect.

Keywords: Older adult; Prevalence; Self-neglect.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: Approval was obtained from Ethics Committee of the Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University (2022-YONP-0216). In addition, written consent was obtained from the participants through an informed consent form describing the study. Permission was obtained from the authors for the scales used in the study. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

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