Introduction:

social loneliness is defined as the subjective experience of dissatisfaction toward society in which one lives, in terms of lifestyles, values ​​and use of new technologies among others.

Objective:

to characterize social loneliness in hospitalized elder adults.

Material and Method:

a cross-sectional, observational, descriptive, study was conducted in patients admitted to the Geriatrics Service of the Clinical Surgical Hospital “Comandante Faustino Pérez”, province of Matanzas, in the period October 2015 - 2016. The universe was formed by 212 patients who lived accompanied and did not suffer from dementia, mental confusion nor serious illnesses. For collecting the information of the studied universe, the authors used the ESTE II Scale of social loneliness validated at national and international level to identify the level of social loneliness. Descriptive statistical methods were used and the results were shown in tables.

Results:

high level of social loneliness in studied elder people of the 60-70 years-old group, without a partner, with a low level of scholarship and with chronic diseases. They had an insufficient perception of support and social participation, as well as made a limited use of the new technologies.

Conclusions:

a high level of the loneliness feeling predominated in elder people, associated to an insufficient perception of support and social participation, plus a low access to the new technologies.

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