Loneliness and social isolation of older adults: Why it is important to examine these social aspects together
Loneliness and social isolation of older adults: Why it is important to examine these social aspects together
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DOI：
10.1177/0265407517749045
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发表时间：
2019-03-01
影响因子：
2.8
通讯作者：
Menec, Verena H.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Newall, Nancy E. G.;Menec, Verena H.
研究表明，社会孤立和孤独是老年人的重要健康问题。这一信息越来越受到政策制定者和服务提供商的认可。尽管孤独和社会孤立的概念经常被讨论和相互比较，但它们在很大程度上是分开研究的，即使它们都包含在同一项研究中。在本文中，我们主张将这两个相关概念结合在一起。例如，只关注社会孤立会忽视社会孤立和孤独的老年人与社会孤立但不孤独的老年人之间的差异。因此，我们讨论四类老年人：孤立但不孤独；人群中孤独；孤立而孤独；并且并不孤立或孤独。我们认为，将孤独和社会隔离结合起来考虑将有助于了解老年人的社会状况，并可为老年人的研究和干预计划提供新的方向。
Research shows that social isolation and loneliness are important health issues for older adults. This message is increasingly being recognized by policy makers and service providers. Although the concepts of loneliness and social isolation are often discussed and compared with one another, they are largely examined separately, even if they are both included in the same study. In the present article, we argue for bringing together these two related concepts. For example, focusing only on social isolation overlooks differences between those older adults who are socially isolated and lonely versus socially isolated but not lonely. Consequently, we discuss four groups of older adults: isolated, but not lonely; lonely in a crowd; isolated and lonely; and not isolated or lonely. We argue that considering loneliness and social isolation together will aid in the understanding of the social situation of older adults and can provide new directions for research and intervention programs for older adults.