HUBUNGAN INTERAKSI SOSIAL DENGAN TINGKAT KOGNITIF PADA LANSIA DI PUSKESMAS POLOWIJEN

Background: Loneliness and social isolation affect social relationships, both among the elderly and with caregivers. Among the elderly, decreased cognitive function is the biggest cause of inability to perform normal daily activities, and is also the most common reason that causes dependence on others to care for themselves (care dependence) in the elderly. Social interaction is needed to improve cognitive function in the elderly. This study aims to determine the relationship between social interaction and cognitive level in the elderly.
Research Method: This study is a correlation description analytic study with a “Cross Sectional” approach. The population in the study was 1,559 with the sample used in this study 94 people with purpose sampling technique on July 8, 2024 to July 12, 2024. Social interaction was measured using the Social Interaction questionnaire and the cognitive level was measured using the Mini mental state examination (MMSE) questionnaire.
Results: The results showed that the majority of respondents were female as many as (88.3%) 83 people, aged 55-65 years as many as (48.9%) 46 people, Muslim as many as 89 (94.7%) people, and the most educators were obtained (33%) 31 people at the elementary school level. Of the 94 respondents, the majority of respondents had sufficient social interaction with a total of 53 elderly people (56.4%) and the cognitive level had no cognitive impairment 69 (73.4%) elderly. From the results of the Spearman correlation, it was found that the p-value was 0.00 and the correlation coefficient value was 0.383.
Conclusion: It can be concluded that there is a relationship between social interaction and cognitive level in the elderly with a positive relationship a positive (+) direction . meaning that there is increased social interaction, the cognitive level in the elderly also increases.