The Predictive Factors of Subjective Well-Being in Older Adults Living Alone: A Mixed-Methods Approach

Background: There have been a few studies on the subjective well-being (SWB) among older adults liv-ing alone, and previous research investigated the associated factors on SWB. This study examines the factors predicting SWB, together with the perspective of older adults living alone.Methods: An explanatory-sequential approach was adopted in this study. First, during the quantitative phase, the multistage random sampling consisted of 198 older adults living alone in selected metro-politan areas in Thailand, where the mean age was 74.11 years (SD = 7.66). Self-reported questionnaires were used to collect the data. Second, during the qualitative phase, a purposive sample of 14 partici-pants with high SWB was recruited, with a mean age of 72.07 years (SD = 6.22). Semi-structured inter-views were used to collect the qualitative data. Then, a joint display table was used to connect the qu-antitative and qualitative data.Results: The quantitative findings revealed a sense of coherence (SOC) as the strongest predictor of SWB, followed by resilience, both of which jointly predicted SWB by 31.20% (R2 = 0.31, p < 0.001). Ad-ditionally, economic status (insufficient income), functional status, social participation, and perceived stress were significantly correlated with the SWB. The qualitative findings explained that a SOC and re-silience produced peaceful feelings. In addition, economic status (insufficient income), functional sta-tus, social participation, and perceived stress were seen to be relevant to SWB.Conclusion: A SOC and resilience were significant predictors of SWB. Implementing a program to pro-mote a SOC and resilience will induce SWB among older adults living alone, particularly females.Copyright (c) 2023, Taiwan Society of Geriatric Emergency & Critical Care Medicine.