The impact of self-compassion on mental health, sleep, quality of life and life satisfaction among older adults

Abstract

Given South Korea's rapidly aging population, mental health and quality of life (QoL) in older adults are increasingly becoming important. Self-compassion (SC), defined as extending compassion to oneself in times of suffering, has been found to have associations with positive mental health outcomes. This study was performed to examine associations between self-compassion and mental health symptoms, sleep disturbance, life satisfaction, and health-related quality of life (HR-QoL) among older Korean adults. The participants in this cross-sectional study included 203 older Korean adults aged 65 and over. Findings of this study suggest that self-compassion in older adults protects them from developing mental health and sleep disturbance symptoms while enhancing their life satisfaction, self-care, and usual activities. Therefore, interventions fostering self-compassion may benefit older adults' mental health and quality of life. (C) 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc.