van Ravesteijn Hiske, Lucassen Peter, van der Akker Marjan
Department of Primary Care, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Aust Fam Physician. 2008 Nov;37(11):973-6.
Loneliness has a negative influence on health. General practitioners are confronted with lonely patients in their daily practice, but there is little information about how GPs deal with loneliness.
A qualitative study using semistructured interviews with 20 GPs who practise integrative medicine in the Netherlands.
There are GPs who never ask patients about loneliness. Others mostly raise the topic indirectly. General practitioners sometimes notice that discussing loneliness brings relief to their patients. Almost all interviewed GPs have feelings of deficiency in their ability to provide health care to lonely patients. A feeling of powerlessness and perceived lack of time are the reasons given to avoid a discussion of loneliness.
Loneliness is a widespread phenomenon and a difficult problem according to the GPs interviewed in this study. Discussing loneliness with patients should not be avoided in general practice.
孤独对健康有负面影响。全科医生在日常诊疗中会遇到孤独的患者，但关于全科医生如何应对孤独的信息很少。
采用半结构式访谈对20名在荷兰从事综合医学的全科医生进行定性研究。
有些全科医生从不询问患者是否孤独。其他医生大多间接提及这个话题。全科医生有时会注意到，讨论孤独能让患者感到宽慰。几乎所有接受采访的全科医生都觉得自己在为孤独患者提供医疗服务方面能力不足。感到无能为力和时间不足是避免讨论孤独的原因。
根据本研究中接受采访的全科医生的说法，孤独是一种普遍现象且是个难题。在全科医疗中，不应避免与患者讨论孤独问题。
