Presented by:

 

Dr Iain Wilkinson (Consultant Geriatrician East Surrey Hospital)

 

Dr Jo Preston  (Consultant Geriatrician St George’s Hospital)

 

Faculty: Wendy Grosvenor, Pam Trangmar and Gabor Szekely

 

Sip of MDTea

 

PDF here

Broadcast date: 21st November 2017

Sip of MDTea Points

1. Over 1 million older people say they are always or often feel lonely

2. Loneliness can be as harmful for our health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day

3. People with a high degree of loneliness are twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s as people with a low degree of loneliness

4. 9% of older people feel trapped in their own home

5. Nearly half (49%) of all people aged 75 and over live alone

Learning Outcomes: 

Knowledge: 

To understand what loneliness is and how to identify

 

Skills: 

The identify is a person is lonely 

To help staff prepare and engage in constructive dialogue with older people experiencing loneliness in ways that can bring about positive change

Attitudes: 

To understand that ageing may impact on loneliness

To understand how older people may view loneliness and the impact on their wellbeing

Definitions:

1) Age UK:

● “a subjective of lacking desired affection, closeness and social interaction with others.”

● It is one of the major factors older people worry about.

 

2) Our Hidden Citizens (2015) report describes loneliness as: 

 “a negative experience that involves painful feelings of not belonging and disconnectedness from others. It occurs when there is a discrepancy between the quantity and quality of social relationships that we want, and those that we have. Thus, loneliness is a subjective psychological perception.”

A Practical definition

“the unpleasant experience that occurs when a person’s network of social relationships is deficient in some important way, either quantitatively or qualitatively”

There are two components of loneliness can be distinguished:

● emotional loneliness, stemming from the absence of an intimate relationship or a close emotional attachment (e.g., a partner or a best friend),

● social loneliness, stemming from the absence of a broader group of contacts or an engaging social network (e.g., friends, colleagues, and people in the neighborhood).

Perlman, Daniel and L. Anne Peplau. 1981. “Toward a Social Psychology of Loneliness.” Pp. 31-43 in Personal Relationships 3: Personal Relationships in Disorder, edited by R. Gilmour and S. Duck. London: Academic Press

As such, loneliness can be felt even when surrounded by others. 

● Nearly half (49%) of all people aged 75 and over live alone 

● 9% of older people feel trapped in their own home ● 6% of older people (nearly 600,000) leave their house once a week or less 

● Over 1 million older people say they are always or often feel lonely 

  •  Nearly half of older people (49% of 65+ UK) say that television or pets are their main form of company
  • Loneliness can be as harmful for our health as smoking 15
  •  cigarettes a day 

● People with a high degree of loneliness are twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s as people with a low degree of loneliness 

● People who took part in more health-maintaining and independence-maintaining behaviours were less likely to feel isolated and more likely to feel that their community was a good one to grow old in. 

● Nearly 200,000 older people in the UK do not receive the help they need to get out of their house or flat – 30% would like to leave more.

 

 

 

The English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (2013) splits the concept of loneliness into 4 key elements:

Feeling lack of companionship

● Feeling left out

● Feeling isolated from others

● Feeling in tune with other people

Loneliness has an impact on wellbeing and a range of personal circumstances such as poor health, living alone and lack of support network are contributing factors to loneliness. (Office for National Statistics (ONS) 2015, Age UK 2015).

As such in many ways “loneliness may be regarded as a “geriatric giant”… 


Quick review here of the geriatric giants: Incontinence, Immobility, Instability, Impairment of intellect. 


Most of the GG’s are associated with loneliness 


Lonely people use sedatives, sleeping pills and alcohol more than others. Furthermore, loneliness is associated with poor sight, hearing impairment, and sleeping problems, as well as with dietary inadequacies.