الفهرس 
IntroductionOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Aging is the accumulation of changes in a person over time. It is associated with major life events that are characterized by losses rather than gains. These losses increase the liability of the elderly person to develop psychological problems such as loneliness and depression. Being attached to others, and being actively engaged with life, have been proposed as being beneficial in helping people to cope with stressful events in later life. Attachment has many styles such as secure, avoidant, and anxious. It was reported that, secure attachment style enhances well-being, decreases morbidity and mortality in elders.
Being attached to others provides a sense of continuity, provides comfort, security and satisfaction. Other emotional needs found in later life are, intimacy, sense of status within social group, having meaning and purpose in life, meeting these needs let elders become empowered. Empowerment is vital to elderly people’s quality of life. It is effective in strengthening the elderly people’s contact with community. So, this study was done to determine the relationship between attachment styles, emotional needs and empowerment among community dwelling elders.
The study was carried out in all governmental elderly clubs in Alexandria covering all the districts except El Mowasah club, their total number is seven. All elders attending the above clubs aged 60years and more, able to communicate effectively and agree to participate in the study were included in the study. Their actual number at the time of data collection was 167elderly person.
Four tools were used to collect the study data:
Tool (I) Elderly Bio-psycho-social characteristics structured interview schedule (Appendix II)
It was developed by the researcher, based on related literature and was intended to investigate certain items related to socio-demographic characteristics of the elders, their medical history and the psycho-social factors that may be associated with psychological problems in later life.
Tool (II ) Adult Attachment Scale (AAS) (Appendix III)
This scale was applied to elderly population. It consists of 18 items divided into three subscales namely Close, Depend and Anxiety, each of them consists of 6 items which are scored on a 5 point Likert scale ranging from never (1) to always (5). These three subscales measure adult attachment styles which are Secure, Avoidant and Anxious. Each subscale was ranged from 6 – 30. The lower score of each subscale is ranged from (6 – 14), the moderate score (15 – 22) , and the higher score is ranged from ( 23 – 30) .
Tool (III) Emotional Needs Scale (ENS) ( Appendix III)
It consists of 14 items that measure nine emotional needs, as need for security, attention, being emotionally connected to others and having a sense of autonomy and control, ”Referring to the fact that unfulfilled emotional needs are a predictor of stress”. ENS uses a five-point Likert scale for respondents’ answers. The total score ranged from 14 – 70, Low scores on the ENS ( 14 – 33) were predictive of higher perceived stress.
Tool (IV) Empowerment Scale ( ES) (Appendix IV)
It consists of 28 items that measure empowerment in adults. It uses a four -point Likert scale for respondents’ answers. The total score ranged from 28 – 112, high scores (84 – 112) reflect empowerment, moderate score (57 – 83) reflect moderate empowerment and low scores reflect powerlessness.
Each elderly person fulfilling the study criteria was interviewed individually once to collect the required information related to the 4 tools. The interview was done either inside the clubs, or during picnics organized by the clubs or during social parties to help elders to talk freely and express their true feelings.
The main results obtained were as follow
1. Elders mean age was 69.01 ± 5.768. The majority of the studied elders were females (79%).
2. More than half of the studied elders (54.5%) were widowers. Nearly half of the studied elders (44%) achieved a secondary school education.
3. Nearly half of the studied elders (46.1%) had an income ranging from 1000 to 2000 Egyptian pound. The majority of the studied elders (97.6%) reported that pension was the main source of their income.
4. The majority of the studied elders (95.2%) were sharing in the club activities, and they were satisfied with these activities.
5. Elders who are communicating with their family through visits constitute 43.7%. Relatives who visiting them weekly were 61%.
6. More than half of the studied elders (62.3%) had a high level of emotional needs satisfaction, nearly three quarters (74.9%) were highly empowered and more than three quarters of the studied elders (77.8%) had a secure attachment style.
7. A significant relationship between emotional needs satisfaction of the elders, their empowerment (r = 0.193, P = 0.013) and the elders’ attachment to others,( 0.255, P = 0.001) were found.
8. Nearly two thirds of the elders (65.4%) who had a secure attachment style showed high emotional needs satisfaction and nearly three quarters of them (73.8%) were highly empowered.
The main recommendations according to these results are:
• Using media to increase elders’ awareness about available community based services, especially elders’ clubs and their activities.
• Elderly people should remain vital and active participants in life rather than reflect only on the past.
• Elders should join a group, club, or volunteer activities.
• Encourage socialization through peer contact, leisure activities, and participation in social activities.
• Encourage visits from younger family members and use telephone to maintain regular communication.
• Encourage elders to be out-door and avoid being alone for long period.
• Family members should emphasize elders’ personal achievement. Also, they should encourage productive work according to elders’ abilities and hobbies.
Recommendations for further studies:
3- The understanding of attachment and its psychosocial impact in later life.
4- The same study can be done on elders in rural areas.