A Systematic Literature Review of Loneliness in Community Dwelling Older Adults

Gabriela Di Perna (), Katrina Radford, Gaery Barbery and Janna Anneke Fitzgerald
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Gabriela Di Perna: Department of Business Strategy and Innovation, Griffith Business School, Brisbane, QLD 4111, Australia
Katrina Radford: Department of Employment Relations and Human Resources, Griffith Business School, Southport, QLD 4215, Australia
Gaery Barbery: School of Applied Psychology, Griffith University, 176 Messines Ridge Road, Mt Gravatt, QLD 4122, Australia
Janna Anneke Fitzgerald: Department of Business Strategy and Innovation, Griffith Business School, Brisbane, QLD 4111, Australia

Social Sciences, 2022, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-14

Abstract: Research on loneliness is extensive. This paper presents a systematic review of intervention studies, outlining the antecedents to, and consequences of loneliness in community-dwelling older people. Using PRISMA methodology, a systematic literature review was conducted between January and August 2021 resulting in 49 useable articles. Papers were included if they: (a) investigated older people (+50); (b) were living in community dwellings; (c) had been published in English; (d) had titles or abstracts available and, (e) were published between 2016 and 2021. This study found the antecedents and consequences of social, emotional and existential loneliness differ, however, the vast majority of research has not examined the unique types of loneliness and instead kept loneliness as a generic term, despite the acceptance that various types of loneliness exist. In addition, the findings of intervention studies identified through this review have yielded mixed results. Those interventions focused on improving personal and psycho-social resources for older people fared better outcomes than those focused on technological and social connections alone. This paper reports important implications for the future of research conducted on loneliness and interventions accordingly.

Keywords: loneliness; older people; community-dwelling older adults; in home care; at home care; CHSP; HCS; home care service*; retire* liv*; indepe*liv*; community dwell*; community care; social*isolat*; lone*; social*exclu*; emotion*isolat*; solitude; se-clu* (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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