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Cited by 842Health disparities and outcomesAging, Health, and DisabilityAging, Elder Care, and Social Issues

Loneliness and social isolation interventions for older adults: a scoping review of reviews

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Fakoya, Olujoke A., McCorry, Noleen K., Donnelly, Michael·2020·BMC Public Health
DOI 10.1186/s12889-020-8251-6PMC PMC7020371
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Abstract

Background: Loneliness and social isolation are growing public health concerns in our ageing society. Whilst these experiences occur across the life span, 50% of individuals aged over 60 are at risk of social isolation and one-third will experience some degree of loneliness later in life. The aim of this scoping review was to describe the range of interventions to reduce loneliness and social isolation among older adults that have been evaluated; in terms of intervention conceptualisation, categorisation, and components. Methods: Three electronic databases (CINAHL, Embase and Medline) were systematically searched for relevant published reviews of interventions for loneliness and social isolation. Inclusion criteria were: review of any type, published in English, a target population of older people and reported data on the categorisation of loneliness and/or social isolation interventions. Data extracted included: categories of interventions and the reasoning underpinning this categorisation. The methodology framework proposed by Arskey and O’Malley and further developed by Levac, et al. was used to guide the scoping review process. Results: A total of 33 reviews met the inclusion criteria, evaluating a range of interventions targeted at older people residing in the community or institutionalised settings. Authors of reviews included in this paper often used the same terms to categorise different intervention components and many did not provide a clear definition of these terms. There were inconsistent meanings attributed to intervention characteristics. Overall, interventions were commonly categorised on the basis of: 1) group or one-to-one delivery mode, 2) the goal of the intervention, and 3) the intervention type. Several authors replicated the categorisation system used in previous reviews. Conclusion: Many interventions have been developed to combat loneliness and social isolation among older people. The individuality of the experience of loneliness and isolation may cause difficulty in the delivery of standardised interventions. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to addressing loneliness or social isolation, and hence the need to tailor interventions to suit the needs of individuals, specific groups or the degree of loneliness experienced. Therefore, future research should be aimed at discerning what intervention works for whom, in what particular context and how.

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  • The acceptable average SUS value is 68 (SD 12.5), determined for a variety of products and tools, including websites and technologies, by Sauro and Lewis after analysis of more than 5000 user scores encompassing almost 500 studies.

    “Both scores were compared and interpreted considering the acceptable average value of 68 (SD 12.5), which was determined for a variety of products and tools, including websites and technologies, provided by Sauro and Lewis [24] after the analysis of more than 5000 user scores encompassing almost 500 studies.”

    From Usability and Acceptance of the Embodied Conversational Agent Anne by People with Dementia and their Caregivers: an exploratory study in home environment settings (Preprint) (2020) · cites this paper as [24]

    The Results section discusses technology-based interventions for loneliness and social isolation, not usability scoring. Searches of our copy for SUS, Sauro and Lewis, and the claimed average and sample sizes found no passage addressing them; the occurrence of “68” in the References is a reference number, not a score. (LLM, conf=0.76)

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Authors
Fakoya, O. A., McCorry, N. K., & Donnelly, M.
Affiliations
Queen's University Belfast (GB)
Corresponding author
Fakoya, Olujoke A.
ORCID
Venue
BMC Public Health
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2020-02-14
Volume
20
Issue
1
Pages
129-129
ISSN
1471-2458 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1186/s12889-020-8251-6
PMC
PMC7020371
OpenAlex
W3007542285
Cited by
842
References
15
Citations by year
2026: 100 · 2025: 145 · 2024: 190 · 2023: 140 · 2022: 136 · 2021: 95 · 2020: 36
FWCI
56.34
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • BMC Public Health (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Research Portal (Queen's University Belfast) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
Medical Research Council (MR/K023241/1)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Aging, Health, and Disability
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Aging, Elder Care, and Social Issues
Keywords
loneliness, social isolation, older adults, intervention, intervention components, community-dwelling older adults, personalized interventions, aging
MeSH terms
Systematic Reviews as Topic, Aged, Health Promotion, Humans, Loneliness, Review Literature as Topic, Review Literature As Topic, Social Isolation

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