Loneliness in the housewives in rising metro culture

Abstract

Loneliness is a subjective feeling expressed in different ways like feeling of isolation from the family, neighbors and or society. Housewives though working hard, not paid for their work, are left alone in the closed doors. Neither husbands nor anyone else is interested to share their feelings, ask problems and take care. Objective: to assess the presence of subjective feelings of loneliness or social isolation and factors responsible for loneliness in the housewives and its health consequences. Material and methods: A cross sectional study done in five randomly selected urban societies of Indore in a period of four months in 250 housewives selected by door to door survey. A pre designed, pre tested semi structured questionnaire derived from the revised-ULCA scale of loneliness with biographical data and health measures was used. Statistical analysis: chi square test with p<0.05 as significant value Results: 48(19%) housewives felt lack of closeness to family members, and 70(28%) had feeling of insecurity. Lack to closeness with family members was significantly common in younger age (29.5%, p=0.0016) and in housewives with higher qualification (23%, p=0.018). 87(34.8%) of interviewed subjects had headache significantly associated with loneliness (p=0.003) and 50% (127) had alteration in sleep & diet pattern. Conclusion: loneliness had lead to raise in psychosocial health problems among housewives which can be reduced by involving them in socio-cultural and recreational activities.