Social isolation and loneliness among older adults in the context of COVID-19: a global challenge

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Abstract

We are experiencing a historical moment with an unprecedented challenge of the COVID-19 global pandemic. The outbreak of COVID-19 will have a long-term and profound impact on older adults’ health and well-being. Social isolation and loneliness are likely to be one of the most affected health outcomes. Social isolation and loneliness are major risk factors that have been linked with poor physical and mental health status. This paper discusses several approaches that may address the issues of social isolation and loneliness. These approaches include promoting social connection as public health messaging, mobilizing the resources from family members, community-based networks and resources, developing innovative technology-based interventions to improve social connections, and engaging the health care system to begin the process of developing methods to identify social isolation and loneliness in health care settings.

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Associations between loneliness and perceived social support and outcomes of mental health problems: a systematic review

Jingyi Wang, Farhana Mann, Brynmor Lloyd-Evans … (2018)

Background The adverse effects of loneliness and of poor perceived social support on physical health and mortality are established, but no systematic synthesis is available of their relationship with the outcomes of mental health problems over time. In this systematic review, we aim to examine the evidence on whether loneliness and closely related concepts predict poor outcomes among adults with mental health problems. Methods We searched six databases and reference lists for longitudinal quantitative studies that examined the relationship between baseline measures of loneliness and poor perceived social support and outcomes at follow up. Thirty-four eligible papers were retrieved. Due to heterogeneity among included studies in clinical populations, predictor measures and outcomes, a narrative synthesis was conducted. Results We found substantial evidence from prospective studies that people with depression who perceive their social support as poorer have worse outcomes in terms of symptoms, recovery and social functioning. Loneliness has been investigated much less than perceived social support, but there is some evidence that greater loneliness predicts poorer depression outcome. There is also some preliminary evidence of associations between perceived social support and outcomes in schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and anxiety disorders. Conclusions Loneliness and quality of social support in depression are potential targets for development and testing of interventions, while for other conditions further evidence is needed regarding relationships with outcomes. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12888-018-1736-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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A review of social isolation: an important but underassessed condition in older adults.

Nicholas R Nicholson (2012)

Social isolation is a major and prevalent health problem among community-dwelling older adults, leading to numerous detrimental health conditions. With a high prevalence, and an increasing number of older persons, social isolation will impact the health, well-being, and quality of life of numerous older adults now and in the foreseeable future. For this review, a series of literature searches of the CINAHL, PsycINFO, and Medline databases were conducted, using the key words "social isolation," "social networks," "older adults," "elderly," "belonging," "perceived isolation," "social engagement," "social contacts," and "social integration," for the period of 1995-2010. The results show that there is an overabundance of evidence demonstrating numerous negative health outcomes and potential risk factors related to social isolation. However, there is scarce evidence that public health professionals are assessing social isolation in older persons, despite their unique access to very socially isolated, homebound older adults. Additionally, few viable interventions were found; therefore, it is advisable to focus on the prevention of social isolation in older adults. Public health professionals can take steps toward increasing the early assessment of social isolation and referring at-risk individuals to available community resources in order to prevent social isolation or further isolation, which would serve to reduce the numerous negative health outcomes associated with this condition.