Research of the relationship between psychological health and spiritual well-being in old age

As a result of the demographic transformation in the world and in our country, the interest in the old age is increasing. In this study, it was aimed to investigate the relationship between psychological health problems and spiritual well-being in old age. The relational survey model was used in the study, which was designed with a quantitative method. Quota sampling method was used by limiting age and number of participants. In the data collection process, data were collected from 400 people by using demographic information questionnaire, brief symptom inventory and spiritual well-being scale. In the analysis of the research data, difference tests and Pearson correlation analysis were performed. When we look at the demographic findings obtained in the study, most of the participants are male (57%), young old (60-74) (80.2%), primary school graduate (57%), and their income is below the average (58.3%) and they feel very religious ( It was found to be defined as 52%. It was found that the participants had high levels of depression and somatization in terms of psychological health. In terms of demographic variables, it was found that all of the psychological health indicators differ according to income and religiosity, anxiety, somatization and hostility differ according to age, and only depression differs according to education level. In terms of spiritual well-being, the majority of the participants (56%) were found to have a high level of spiritual well-being. It was found that among the demographic variables, gender only made a difference in the dimension of transcendence, and income status only made a difference in the dimension of anomie. While the variable of age creates a difference in the sum of anomie and spiritual well-being, religiosity creates a difference in the sum of transcendence and spiritual well-being. Finally, it was found that there is a positive and significant relationship between spiritual well-being and depression, negative self, somatization and total psychological health. When the findings obtained in the research were evaluated, although mostly negative correlations were found between spiritual well-being and psychological health, a positive relationship was found in this study. This indicates that psychological health symptoms and spiritual well-being in old age are affected by different variables. These data make it necessary to increase the number of researches on the subject and to carry out psychological evaluation and spirituality measurements specific to the old age period. Keywords: Psychology of Religion, Gerontology, Aging, Psychological Health, Spiritual Well-Being