Loneliness in old age: an ethnography in residences for the elderly

Abstract

Based on the results of ethnographic fieldwork carried out in residential institutions for the elderly which belong of the religious and International Congregation of the Little Sisters of the Abandoned Elderly, both national and foreign, in the following pages we address one of the main problems that affects that age group that bears the «mark» of old age. This problem is none other than loneliness, which, although it is not exclusive to the world of the elderly, has a notable incidence in this age group. Action is taken against the loneliness of the elderly in all the residences of that Congregation, resorting to what we call the ethic of care or “caring” that responds to a particular system of religious values, such as the Catholic one. Likewise, in all the centers that I have visited during mi fieldwork they try to avoid the isolation of the elderly by carrying out group activities with a supervisor.