Investigation of the relationship between successful aging andhappiness levels of elderly individuals with type 2 diabetes

The research was conducted in a descriptive, cross-sectional and correlation design to determine the relationship between successful aging and happiness levels of individuals aged 65 and over with a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes. The sample of the study consisted of 309 patients aged 65 and over who were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and received inpatient treatment at the Rize State Hospital Internal Medicine Service. The data was collected by the researcher between April-August 2023 by face-to-face interview technique using the "Patient Introduction Form", "Successful Aging Scale" and "Oxford Happiness Scale-Short Form". The application of the forms took approximately 15-25 minutes for each patient. Number, percentage, mean, median, standard deviation, Shapiro-Wilk, Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, Kruskall Wallis, Dunn test, Mann-Whitney U and Spearman's rho Correlation analysis were used to evaluate the data. In the study, the average total score of the elderly patients on the Successful Aging Scale was 43.66±11.29; The mean score of the "Dealing with Problems" sub-dimension was 29.16±8.34 and the mean of the "Healthy Aging" sub-dimension was 14.41±3.48. The Oxford Happiness Scale-Short Form total score average of elderly patients was found to be 18.58±4.16. It was determined that there was a statistically significant relationship between the Oxford Happiness Scale-Short Form and the time to diabetes diagnosis and the Successful Aging Scale (p<0.01). As a result, it was determined that the successful aging and happiness scores of elderly patients with type 2 diabetes were at moderate levels. In this regard, it is recommended that nurses plan, implement and evaluate individualized nursing interventions to increase the successful aging and happiness levels of elderly people with diabetes.