Older peoples’ perspectives on time spent alone

Stanley, Mandy; Richard, A; Williams, Shoshannah

doi:10.1111/1440-1630.12353

Cited by 9 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Despite the significant impact of loneliness on older adults, the difficulty in identifying this problem remains an obstacle for healthcare professionals to take measures [27,28]. In relation to this, different studies have tried to find out the role of loneliness in both institutionalised and community-dwelling older adults [7,[29][30][31][32][33][34], comprehend healthcare professionals' experience on older adults' isolation [28] and evaluate strategies to reduce loneliness in older adults [35,36]. However, more research focusing on understanding healthcare professionals' perceptions of the phenomenon of loneliness in older adults is needed [28,37,38] since evidence suggests that healthcare professionals receive insufficient training to address this important issue [37,39,40].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Healthcare Professionals’ Perceptions of Loneliness amongst Older Adults: A Qualitative Study

Dobarrio-Sanz

Ruiz‐González

Fernández‐Sola

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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Background: Loneliness amongst older adults is linked to poor health outcomes and constitutes a public health issue worldwide. Healthcare professionals’ perceptions could influence the strategies they implement in order to prevent, detect and manage loneliness amongst older adults. The aim of this study was to describe and understand healthcare professionals’ perceptions of loneliness amongst older adults. Methods: A descriptive qualitative study. Twenty-six Spanish healthcare professionals with experience caring for older adults participated in the study. Data were collected between November 2019 and September 2020 using focus groups and in-depth interviews. Data were analysed following a content analysis method using ATLAS.ti software. Results: Healthcare professionals’ perceptions of loneliness amongst older adults is represented by three themes: (1) “when one’s personal life and social context lead to loneliness”; (2) “from abandonment to personal growth: the two faces of loneliness”; and (3) “loneliness as a health issue that needs to be addressed”. Conclusions: Healthcare professionals perceive loneliness as a multifactorial, subjective experience that can trigger different coping mechanisms and negatively affect older people’s health. Healthcare professionals consider that a greater involvement of the whole society is needed in order to fight loneliness amongst older adults as a public health issue.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Healthcare Professionals’ Perceptions of Loneliness amongst Older Adults: A Qualitative Study

Dobarrio-Sanz

Ruiz‐González

Fernández‐Sola

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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“…Studies included in this review were published between 2007 and 2019 and the age of participants ranged from 10-92 years. Two studies were child specific (Poulsen et al, 2007(Poulsen et al, , 2008, two related to young adults (Roy et al, 2009;Orsmond et al, 2013), four specified older people (Pritchard et al, 2015;Arthanat et al, 2016;Taylor et al, 2016a;Stanley et al 2017), four included participants up to middle age (Ashby et al, 2012;Siemon et al, 2013;Blanche et al, 2015;Goods and Millsteed, 2016) and the remaining studies included adults over 18 including older people (Natturlund, 2010;Packer et al, 2012;Makdisi et al, 2013;Taylor et al, 2016b;Hand et al, 2017;Hanne et al, 2018;Boland et al, 2019;Barclay et al, 2019). Ten studies noted a predominance of male participants; nine a predominance of female participants and one did not specify participant gender.…”

Section: Study Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A number of studies further illustrate that ageing is associated with increased loneliness and social isolation. For example, Stanley et al (2017) found that more time spent alone was associated with increased loneliness and reduced physical and mental health for older people. Whilst Hand et al (2017) present multiple dimensions of social isolation for older adults who reported diminished social networks, due to reduced health and limited access to transport, and a desire for more social interaction and engagement.…”

Section: Agementioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, Hanne et al (2018) found that engaging in meaningful occupations enhanced quality of life and a sense of belonging for people with advanced cancer and Boland et al (2019) reported that participation in an occupation-based group programme that included individualised client centred goal setting was considered a positive and appropriate intervention as part of cancer survivorship. Stanley et al (2017) claim that when older people have a balance of engagement in meaningful occupations both at home and in the community, they are better able to manage time alone and avoid loneliness which is linked to ill health. Arthanat et al, (2016) aimed to evaluate the effectiveness and perceived value of an individualised home based Information and Communication Technology (ICT) programme for older adults.…”

Section: Meaningful Occupations and Engagementmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Occupational therapy, loneliness and social isolation: a thematic review of the literature

Collins

Davys

Martin

et al. 2020

International Journal of Therapy and Rehabilitation

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Background/Aims Loneliness and social isolation are thought to have a negative impact on health and wellbeing. There is little literature that provides an explicit focus on loneliness and social isolation in occupational therapy practice. The aim of this study was to explore themes related to loneliness and social isolation in occupational therapy-related literature and consider the implications for practice. Methods CINAHL, Medline, Pub Med, AMed, PsycINFO, TRIP Database, and Science direct and Web of science databases were used to identify articles pertaining to occupational therapy, loneliness and social isolation. Results A total of 20 articles were included and three themes were identified: loneliness and social isolation are detrimental to health and wellbeing; factors associated with increased loneliness and social isolation; factors that protect against the impact of loneliness and social isolation. Conclusions Loneliness and social isolation have a significant impact on the health and wellbeing of the people occupational therapists work with. Occupational therapy practice should include the recognition and assessment of loneliness and social isolation, and interventions to help reduce any impacts on health and wellbeing.

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“…Attributes are 'those characteristics of a concept which appear over and over again' when the concept is defined [15]. Literature review indicated ten key attributes for the concept of loneliness in older adults: 'subjective phenomenon' [16][17][18][19][20][21], 'lack of meaningful interpersonal relationships' [16,[19][20][21][22][23][24][25], 'a wall of sorrow and pain loneliness' [16,[19][20][21][26][27][28], 'struggle for energy and resilience' [16,19,24,29,30], 'loneliness as a time-related experience' [16,24,31], 'lack and deprivation' [32][33][34][35], 'feeling useless, isolated and unable to keep up with the flow of life' [18, 20-23, 27, 28, 36].…”

Section: Attributes Of Loneliness In Older Adultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Concept analysis of loneliness in older adults: A hybrid model

Bandari

Shahboulaghi²,

Khankeh³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Background: Loneliness is an ontological structure in human existence that can occur in all stages of life. The purpose of this qualitative study was to clarify the meaning and the nature of loneliness in Iranian older adults.Methods: Loneliness in older adults was examined in three phases: (1) the theoretical phase; (2) the fieldwork and (3) the analytical phase. The hybrid concept analysis method was performed to explore the data and synthesis the findings on three key issues including attributes, antecedents, and consequences. Finally, a working definition was synthesized.Results: The critical attributes of loneliness included a variety of topics including suffering, and feeling of worthlessness. Antecedents included distal and proximal factors. The consequences of loneliness in most instances were negative and disturbing. The final definition originated from the theoretical phase and fieldwork was as follows: ‘loneliness is an unpleasant, negative, annoying, hard, scary and painful personal experience that causes feeling of despair, uselessness, hopelessness, depression, anxiety and seeing the world in black’.Conclusion: The findings from this study introduce a new definition for loneliness that includes a combination of attributes, antecedents and consequences for the concept.

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Older peoples’ perspectives on time spent alone

Abstract: Enabling older people to balance time spent alone by addressing barriers to participation in the community in addition to finding engaging occupations to occupy time has the potential to prevent boredom, loneliness and improve wellbeing.

Cited by 9 publications

References 37 publications

Healthcare Professionals’ Perceptions of Loneliness amongst Older Adults: A Qualitative Study

Healthcare Professionals’ Perceptions of Loneliness amongst Older Adults: A Qualitative Study

Occupational therapy, loneliness and social isolation: a thematic review of the literature

Concept analysis of loneliness in older adults: A hybrid model

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