Older women's perception of loneliness and virtual actions adapt to it

Feeling lonely is one of the most important issues in old age that affects the mental health of this population And it can cause complex social and psychological problems for the elderly. Perception and experience of loneliness and the actions of the elderly in cyberspace to address this feeling are among the less researched topics Which can identify and understand the needs and risks facing the growing population of the elderly.The present study, by adopting a phenomenological approach, qualitatively studied the feeling of loneliness in elderly women in Tehran and using the in-depth interview technique, reflected the lived experience of 22 elderly women who were selected using purposive sampling with maximum diversity.The main research questions regarding the perception of loneliness in older women were how to deal with loneliness and use cyberspace to adapt to loneliness.The findings of this study show that older women interpret the feeling of loneliness in the form of two main categories of unpleasant feelings and desirable feelings. From the participants' point of view, unpleasant loneliness is interpreted with the central categories of feeling lonely with anxiety, loneliness with disengagement, loneliness with dysfunction and loneliness with physical illness, and pleasant loneliness in the form of leisure and satisfaction with Loneliness means. Respondents cite the reasons for adopting virtual actions to adapt to feeling lonely in the categories of facilitating interactions, entertainment and reducing negative thoughts and feelings, acquiring knowledge and experiences related to life, updating and keeping pace with progress and modernization, .