Osamljenost in socialna omrežja starih ljudi, ki so brez stika s svojci in živijo v Domu za stare ljudi - Selan, Špela (2020)
Zadnje obdobje življenja je pri velikem delu starih ljudi povezano z zdravstvenimi težavami in splošno zmanjšano možnostjo skrbi zase ter s tem posledično tudi s preselitvijo v dom za stare ljudi. Preselitev človeka v institucijo poleg splošnega stresa predstavlja tudi zoženje njihove primarne socialne mreže. Pojav osamljenosti med starimi ljudmi že v osnovi predstavlja problem sodobne družbe, zato sem s pomočjo raziskave poskušala ugotoviti, kakšna so socialna omrežja ljudi, ki bivajo v domu za stare in kakšna je stopnja osamljenosti med njimi. V raziskavo sem vključila stanovalce Centra starejših Notranje Gorice. Osredotočila sem se na tiste stanovalce, ki imajo zelo malo stikov s svojci ali pa jih sploh nimajo. Poleg že omenjenih tem sem raziskovala tudi, kaj starim ljudem predstavlja pojem osamljenosti, kako bi sami pripomogli h zmanjšanju le-te ter kako si pomagajo pri reševanju stisk. Pozornost sem namenila tudi njihovemu odnosu do prostovoljstva. Ugotovila sem, da jim največji del njihovega socialnega omrežja predstavljajo zaposleni, saj so obiski svojcev in prijateljev zelo redki. Stopnja osamljenosti med intervjuvanimi stanovalci je nizka v primeru stisk si pomagajo na različne načine. Osamljenost si predstavljajo kot odsotnost opore in družbe drugih ljudi. Ker imajo skupine za samopomoč pomembno vlogo pri zmanjševanju osamljenosti, sem raziskovala tudi poznavanje te skupine znotraj doma. Izkazalo se je, da večina stanovalcev skupine ne pozna, čeprav je skupina organizirana. Prostovoljstvo jim predstavlja učinkovit način za zmanjševanje osamljenosti in izključenosti starih ljudi izkušenj z obiskovanjem prostovoljca večinoma nimajo. The last period of older people's life is often associated with health problems and reduced ability to care for themselves. As a result, older people are forced to move to a home for the elderly. Moving a person to an institution can cause a lot of stress and also a reduction of their primary social network. The emergence of loneliness among the elderly is already an extensive problem in modern society. Through my research, I tried to find out what the social networks of people living in a nursing home are and what the level of loneliness is among them. The research included residents of the Center for the Elderly Notranje Gorice and focused on those residents who have very little contact with their relatives or have no contact at all. In addition to the topics mentioned above, I have researched what the concept of loneliness represents to older people, how they can help reduce it on their own, and how they help them deal with distress. I also paid attention to their attitude towards volunteering. My research shows that the largest part of their social network is represented by employees since visits of relatives and friends are very rare. The level of loneliness among the interviewed residents is low and, in the event of distress, they help each other in different ways. They associate loneliness with the lack of support and company of other people. Because self-help groups play an important role in reducing loneliness, I also researched how many residents know these groups. It turned out that despite the fact that the group is organized in their home, most residents do not know it. They think that volunteering is an effective way of reducing loneliness and preventing the exclusion of the elderly. Although volunteering is included in their home, most of them do not have experience with volunteers.