Description
The project includes three studies: a national and regional questionnaire survey of older adults (The Swedish Panel Study of Living Conditions of the Oldest Old, SWEOLD); semi-structured interviews with older adults; and a Delphi survey with organisations providing social activities for older adults and social workers with responsibility for assessing and following up the social needs of older adults.
The project will provide new evidence on key risk factors for loneliness and the identification of the most vulnerable older adults. It will also describe experiences of older adults and social actors regarding loneliness and interventions to reduce loneliness. Thereby, the project will contribute to the evidence-base on ‘what works’ and enable the development and implementation of effective interventions to alleviate loneliness in older adults and improve their quality of life.
The project is conducted in collaboration between Dalarna University and the Aging Research Center at Karolinska Institutet/Stockholm University. A reference group with representatives of civil society organisations and local authorities and a reference group with international researchers are linked to the project.
Financiers
Selected publications
- Dahlberg, Lena, von Saenger, Isabelle, Naseer, Mahwish, Lennartsson, Carin, Agahi, Neda. National trends in loneliness and social isolation in older adults: An examination of subgroup trends over three decades in Sweden. Frontiers in Public Health, 2024.
- Dahlberg, Lena. Lonely and sad and/or sad and lonely? [Commentary]. International Psychogeriatrics, 2022.