Health Risks of Older Adults: Social Isolation
Social isolation is a major health risk for older adults (Landeiro, Barrows, Musson, Gray & Leal, 2017). It can cause symptoms of depression, loneliness and withdrawal for older persons who lack connectivity to the community outside their living quarters. These symptoms can impact both the mental and physical health of older adults and drastically reduce their quality of life. Primary risk factors of isolation include (Elder & Retrum, 2012):
· Living alone
· Mobility or sensory impairment
· Major life transitions
· Socioeconomic status (low income, limited resources)
· Being a caregiver for someone with severe impairment
· Psychological or cognitive vulnerabilities
· Location: rural, unsafe or inaccessible neighborhood/community
· Small social network and/or inadequate social support
· Language (non-English speaking); and
· Membership in a vulnerable group
A registered nurse (RN) can assess this problem by obtaining a health history and physical examination of the patient. Specifically the RN would look for symptoms of listlessness, detachment, and disinterest in the person’s surroundings. The individual might demonstrate a lack of communicativeness and a lack of a desire...
On the other hand, if loneliness is the primary symptom, the older person might demonstrate a desire to talk at length about anything and not be willing to end a conversation. These two extremes can actually be symptoms of the same problem of social isolation.
One way to effectively measure for the problem of social isolation in older adults would be to utilize The National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP) data, which “contain multiple indicators of social connectedness, social participation, social support, and loneliness among older adults” (Cornwell & Waite, 2009, p. 38). Cornwell and Waite (2009) state that using the NSHAP data, an RN could assess this problem in a patient by measuring “social disconnectedness (i.e., physical separation from others) and perceived isolation (i.e., feelings of loneliness and a lack of social support)” (p. 38). A scale can be applied to this measurement of variables including social network size and range, percentage of social network who lives in the same house as the patient, frequency of interaction, closeness with network members, living arrangements, number of friends and family members, number of children, attendance at social services, and so on (Cornwell & Waite, 2009).
Three specific interventions would be one-on-one visits, service provision—such as…
