Research focus: social isolation and its effect on mortality and ill health

Social isolation, or the perception of social isolation, is far from inevitable for older people and is not a ‘normal’ part of ageing. However, nurses in all settings will encounter older people who are lonely and it is becoming increasingly clear that loneliness plays an important part in older people’s health outcomes, as described in the three research articles summarised below.

At the end of the summaries is a link to a resource offering information and advice on choosing and using a scale to measure the effect of your services on loneliness in older age.