Vol. 2, Issue 2, Part A (2025)

The ageing of global populations has increased the number of older individuals living alone, a circumstance that places unique demands on community nursing services focused on self-care hygiene maintenance and general selfcare. As elders age in place, diminished physical mobility, sensory impairments, cognitive decline and reduced social support converge to impose significant barriers to hygiene tasks such as bathing, oral care, grooming and toileting. Studies indicate that older adults living alone are at heightened risk of social isolation, self neglect and unmet hygiene needs, leading to skin problems, infections and decreased quality of life ^[1-4]. From a community nursing perspective, facilitating hygiene among elderly persons living independently is essential to preserve dignity, prevent morbidity and reduce healthcare dependency. However, the extent to which community nursing frameworks address the specific hygiene maintenance barriers of solitary elders remains underexplored. The present research, titled “Barriers to Maintaining Hygiene Among Elderly Living Alone: A Community Nursing Perspective”, investigates the main obstacles experienced by this population, explores the role of community nursing support, and tests whether targeted nursing interventions mitigate identified barriers. The objectives are:

1. To identify and categorise hygiene‑maintenance barriers faced by elderly persons living alone,
2. To examine how community nursing services currently engage with these barriers, and
3. To assess whether an enhanced community nursing support model is associated with improved hygiene‑maintenance behaviours.

The central hypothesis is that elderly persons living alone who receive structured community‑nursing support will demonstrate significantly better hygiene‑maintenance behaviours than those without such support.