Rahimah Ibrahim

Loneliness as a Risk Factor for Hypertension in Later Life

Objective: The present study aims to determine the impact of loneliness on hypertension in later life. Method: Data for this study are derived from a sample of 1,880 older Malaysians via a cross-sectional survey entitled “Patterns of Social Relationships and Psychological Well-Being Among Older Persons in Peninsular Malaysia.” Loneliness is assessed by the PGCMS item, “How much do you feel lonely?” Data analysis is carried out using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 19.0. Results: Nearly one third of respondents report high level of loneliness. The overall prevalence of hypertension is 39% (95% CI = 36.9-41.3). Logistic regression, controlling for sociodemographic factors and several chronic medical conditions, shows that loneliness significantly increases likelihood of hypertension in later life (OR = 1.31, p ≤ .05, 95% CI = 1.04-1.66). Discussion: The results show loneliness as a major risk factor for hypertension and call for health care professionals to be aware of the negative physiological effects of loneliness in old age.

Predictors and Prevalence of Successful Aging among Older Malaysians

Background: Successful aging is an important and worldwide concept in gerontology. However, until recently, there has been very little known about successful aging in Malaysia. This study was designed to describe the prevalence and correlates of successful aging among older Malaysians. Methods: Data for this study were obtained from the national survey ‘The Mental Health and Quality of Life of Older Malaysians’. For this study, successful aging was defined based on a multidimensional model, encompassing the avoidance of chronic disease and physical functioning difficulty, and maintenance of good psychocognitive functioning. Results: The prevalence of successful aging among older Malaysians was calculated at 13.8% (CI: 12.6–15.1). Results of multiple logistic regression analysis showed that age, educational attainment, household income, and ethnicity were significantly associated with successful aging. Conclusion: Results of this study show that successful agers were more likely to be among the younger age, ethnic Chinese, and those with a higher education level and household income, after adjusting for all other variables in the model.

Sociodemographic predictors of elderly's psychological well-being in Malaysia.

Background and objective: Psychological well-being as one of the most important indicators of successful aging has received substantial attention in the gerontological literature. Prior studies show that sociodemographic factors influencing elderlys psychological well-being are multiple and differ across cultures. The aim of this study was to identify significant sociodemographic predictors of psychological well-being among Malay elders. Methodology: The study included 1415 older Malays (60–100 years, 722 women), randomly selected through a multistage stratified random method from Peninsular Malaysia. WHO-Five well-being index was used to measure psychological well-being. Data analysis was conducted using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 13.0. Results: Using multiple regression analysis a significant model emerged (F(7, 1407) = 20.14, p ≤ 0.001), where age, sex, marital status, and household income were significant predictor variables of psychological well-being among Malay elders. However, level of education, employment status, and place of residence failed to predict psychological well-being. Conclusion: This study showed that the oldest old, elderly women, unmarried, and the poor elderly people are at risk for experiencing low psychological well-being. Therefore, they need special attention from family, policy makers, and those who work with elderly people.

Moderating effect of religiosity on the relationship between social isolation and psychological well-being

It is known that social isolation is negatively associated to psychological well-being. Hence, it is imperative to identify factors that may moderate this association. This study aimed to examine the moderating effect of religiosity on the relationship between social isolation and psychological well-being among a sample of 1415 community-dwelling older Malay Muslims age 60 years and over. The data for this study came from a national survey entitled Patterns of Social Relationship and Psychological Well Being among Older Persons in Peninsular Malaysia, which was conducted using a cross-sectional research design. Three scales namely WHO-5 Well being Index, Revised Intrinsic Extrinsic Religiosity Scale, and Lubben Social Network Scale were utilised to measure psychological well-being, religiosity, and social isolation, respectively. A four-step moderated hierarchical regression analysis using SPSS (version-13) was employed to test moderating effect of religiosity. The results of this study demonstrated that religiosity significantly moderates relationship between social isolation and psychological well-being, after controlling for age, sex, marital status, level of education, employment status, household income, and place of residence. Based on the findings from this study, the possible educational and therapeutic implications are discussed.

Moderating effect of Islamic religiosity on the relationship between chronic medical conditions and psychological well-being among elderly Malays.

Background:  Research has found that physical health decline in later life is associated with poor psychological well‐being. This study aimed to examine the possible moderating effect of Islamic religiosity on the relationship between chronic medical conditions and psychological well‐being.

Unmet needs among disabled elderly Malaysians

Unmet need as a significant factor affecting quality of life in later life has recently received considerable attention in gerontological research. The main aim of this study was to identify the prevalence, predicting factors, and negative consequence of unmet need among older Malaysians. The findings may be useful to reduce unmet need and the burden of its adverse consequence. The sample for this study consists of 400 functionally disabled elderly people aged 60 and over was obtained from a large national survey. Unmet need was operationally defined based on Mantons (1989) criteria. The findings from the present study showed about 18.0% of functionally disabled older Malaysians suffer from unmet need. Logistic regression revealed that gender (being male) and chronic health conditions are statistically associated with increased odds of unmet need after adjusting for other possible risk factors. Further results indicated that unmet need statistically increases odds of fall as a negative consequence of unmet need. The high prevalence rates of unmet need among disabled elderly men and chronically ill older persons suggest that policy makers should pay more attention to this vulnerable group to achieve good quality of life. The implications and limitations of the present study are discussed.

Mediating Effects of Social and Personal Religiosity on the Psychological Well Being of Widowed Elderly People

Spousal death is one the most stressful life events that seriously affects the psychological well being of widowed. This study examined the mediating effects of social and personal religiosity on the psychological well being of widowed elderly people. The sample for this study was comprised of 1367 widowed and married elderly Muslims from Malaysia. Psychological well being, religiosity, and physical health were measured using WHO-5 Well being Index, Intrinsic Extrinsic religiosity scale, and a checklist of 16 physical health problems, respectively. Data analysis was conducted using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (version-13). As expected, bivariate correlation analysis revealed that widowhood is statistically and negatively associated with psychological well being. Results of multiple hierarchical regression analyses and Sobel test showed that only the indirect effect of widowhood through personal religiosity was statistically significant (Sobel = −2.79, p < .01). Sobel test for social religiosity was not significant (Sobel = −1.54, p > .05). The results of this study confirmed earlier studies, which found that widowhood negatively affects psychological well being of elderly people. Overall, the findings show that the potential solace provided by religiosity can decrease the negative effects of widowhood on the psychological well being of widowed elderly people.

Social isolation in older Malaysians: prevalence and risk factors

Social isolation is one of the most important emerging issues among ageing populations, as it reduces well‐being, health and quality of life. The purpose of this study was to identify prevalence and risk factors of social isolation in older Malaysians.

Theories and measures of elder abuse.

Elder abuse is a pervasive phenomenon around the world with devastating effects on the victims. Although it is not a new phenomenon, interest in examining elder abuse is relatively new. This paper aims to provide an overview of the aetiological theories and measures of elder abuse. The paper briefly reviews theories to explain causes of elder abuse and then discusses the most commonly used measures of elder abuse. Based on the reviewed theories, it can be concluded that elder abuse is a multifactorial problem that may affect elderly people from different backgrounds and involve a wide variety of potential perpetrators, including caregivers, adult children, and partners. The review of existing measurement instruments notes that many different screening and assessment instruments have been developed to identify elders who are at risk for or are victims of abuse. However, there is a real need for more measurements of elder abuse, as the current instruments are limited in scope.

Dyadic effects of attitude toward aging on psychological well-being of older Malaysian couples: an actor–partner interdependence model

Background There is a growing body of literature indicating that attitudes toward aging significantly affect older adults’ psychological well-being. However, there is a paucity of scientific investigations examining the role of older adults’ attitudes toward aging on their spouses’ psychological well-being. Therefore, the present study aimed to examine the dyadic effects of attitude toward aging on the psychological well-being of older couples. Methods Data for the present study, consisting of 300 couples aged 50 years and older, were drawn from a community-based survey entitled “Poverty among Elderly Women: Case Study of Amanah Ikhtiar” conducted in Peninsular Malaysia. An actor–partner interdependence model using AMOS version 20 (Europress Software, Cheshire, UK) was used to analyze the dyadic data. Results The mean ages of the husbands and wives in this sample were 60.37 years (±6.55) and 56.33 years (±5.32), respectively. Interdependence analyses revealed significant association between older adults’ attitudes toward aging and the attitudes of their spouses (intraclass correlation =0.59; P<0.001), and similar interdependence was found for psychological well-being (intraclass correlation =0.57; P<0.001). The findings from AMOS revealed that the proposed model fits the data (CMIN/degrees of freedom =3.23; goodness-of-fit index =0.90; confirmatory fit index =0.91; root mean square error of approximation =0.08). Results of the actor–partner independence model indicated that older adults’ psychological well-being is significantly predicted by their spouses’ attitudes toward aging, both among older men (critical ratio =2.92; P<0.01) and women (critical ratio =2.70; P<0.01). Husbands’ and wives’ own reports of their attitudes toward aging were significantly correlated with their own and their spouses’ psychological well-being. Conclusion The findings from this study supported the proposed Spousal Attitude–Well-Being Model, where older adults’ attitudes toward aging significantly affected their own and their spouses’ psychological well-being. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.