Department of Primary Care and Population Health, University College London, Royal Free Campus, London, UK.
NIHR Policy Research Unit on Health and Social Care Workforce, King's College London, London, UK.
Aging Ment Health. 2021 Jul;25(7):1206-1213. doi: 10.1080/13607863.2020.1729337. Epub 2020 Feb 24.
Engaging with older people who self-identify as lonely may help professionals in mental health and other services understand how they deal with loneliness. The evidence-base for effective interventions to address loneliness is inconclusive. This study aimed to explore how community-dwelling lonely older people in England manage their experiences of loneliness. Twenty eight community-dwelling older people identifying as lonely, based on responses to two loneliness measures (self-report and a standardised instrument), participated in in-depth interviews between 2013 and 2014. Fifteen lived alone. Thematic analysis of transcribed interviews was conducted by a multidisciplinary team including older people.Participants drew on a range of strategies to ameliorate their distress which had been developed over their lives and shaped according to individual coping styles and contexts. Strategies included physical engagement with the world beyond their home, using technologies, planning, and engagement with purpose in an 'outside world', and acceptance, endurance, revealing and hiding, positive attitude and motivation, and distraction within an 'inside world'. Strategies of interests and hobbies, comparative thinking, religion and spirituality and use of alcohol straddled both the inside and outside worlds. Participants conveyed a personal responsibility for managing feelings of loneliness rather than relying on others. This study includes the experiences of those living with loneliness whilst also living with other people. When developing policy and practice responses to loneliness it is important to listen attentively to the views of those who may not be engaging with services designed for 'the lonely' and to consider their own strategies for managing it.
与自认为孤独的老年人接触，可能有助于心理健康和其他服务领域的专业人员了解他们如何应对孤独感。针对孤独感的有效干预措施的证据基础尚无定论。本研究旨在探讨英格兰社区中孤独的老年居民如何应对他们的孤独感体验。2013 年至 2014 年间，根据两项孤独感测量（自我报告和标准化工具），对 28 名自认为孤独的社区居住的老年人进行了深入访谈，其中 15 人独居。由包括老年人在内的多学科团队对转录访谈进行了主题分析。参与者利用了一系列策略来减轻他们的痛苦，这些策略是他们在生活中发展起来的，并根据个人应对风格和环境进行了调整。这些策略包括积极参与家庭以外的世界、使用技术、计划以及在“外部世界”中寻找目标，以及在“内部世界”中接受、忍耐、展现和隐藏、保持积极的态度和动力以及分散注意力。兴趣爱好、比较思维、宗教和精神以及饮酒等策略跨越了内部和外部世界。参与者传达了一种个人管理孤独感的责任感，而不是依赖他人。本研究包括那些在与他人生活的同时也经历孤独的人的经历。在制定针对孤独感的政策和实践应对措施时，重要的是要认真倾听那些可能没有参与为“孤独者”设计的服务的人的意见，并考虑他们自己管理孤独感的策略。
