Social isolation and loneliness among older adults in the context of COVID-19: a global challenge
Open accessAbstract
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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For prisoners, loneliness is a common emotional issue, and it may exacerbate depression and anxiety symptoms.
“For prisoners, loneliness is a common emotional issue (29–32), and it may exacerbate depression and anxiety symptoms (33).”
From Can Viewing Nature Through Windows Improve Isolated Living? A Pathway Analysis on Chinese Male Prisoners During the COVID-19 Epidemic (2021) · cites this paper as [32]
The section “Social isolation and loneliness in the context of COVID-19” links loneliness with depression and anxiety, supporting the mental-health association cited as (33). The paper discusses older adults, not prisoners, and describes linked risks rather than showing that loneliness exacerbates symptoms in prisoners. The separate claim that loneliness is common among prisoners is attributed to citations (29–32), not this source. (LLM, conf=0.84)
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Wang, J., Mann, F., Lloyd-Evans, B., Ma, R., & Johnson, S. (2018) · BMC Psychiatry · doi:10.1186/s12888-018-1736-5 · Cited by 1,494 · see citing works
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Gambin, M., Sękowski, M., Woźniak-Prus, M., Wnuk, A., Oleksy, T., Cudo, A., Hansen, K., Huflejt-Łukasik, M., Kubicka, K., Łyś, A. E., et al. (2021) · Comprehensive Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.comppsych.2020.152222 · Cited by 202 · see citing works
El-Monshed, A. H., El-Adl, A. A., Ali, A. S., & Loutfy, A. (2022) · Journal of American College Health · doi:10.1080/07448481.2021.1891086 · Cited by 84 · see citing works
Li, H., Zhang, X., You, C., Chen, X., Cao, Y., & Zhang, G. (2021) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2021.720722 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Chun, E. K., Donovan, M., Liu, Y., & Wang, Z. (2022) · Neurobiology of Stress · doi:10.1016/j.ynstr.2022.100427 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Brewer, R., Ankenbauer, S., Hashmi, M., & Upadhyay, P. (2024) · ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction · doi:10.1145/3635151 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
- Authors
- Wu, B.
- Affiliations
- New York University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Wu, Bei
- ORCID
- Wu, Bei
- Venue
- Global Health Research and Policy
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2020-06-05
- Volume
- 5
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 27-27
- ISSN
- 2397-0642 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7272234
- OpenAlex
- W3033304908
- Cited by
- 630
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 32 · 2025: 46 · 2024: 98 · 2023: 137 · 2022: 166 · 2021: 137 · 2020: 14
- FWCI
- 45.44
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Global Health Research and Policy (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › COVID-19 and Mental Health
- Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Aging, Health, and Disability
- Keywords
- social isolation, loneliness, older adults, COVID-19 pandemic, social connectedness, technology-based interventions, family support, community networks, mental health, physical health, public health communication
- MeSH terms
- COVID-19, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Delivery of Health Care, Humans, Loneliness, Social Isolation, Community Networks
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