Social support and sense of loneliness in solitary older adults

Xue Bai, Shuyan Yang, Fu Lee Wang, Martin Knapp

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Older people are vulnerable to loneliness and isolation. Solitary seniors are more likely to suffer the feelings of loneliness with inadequate social networks. Based on a face-to-face questionnaire survey with 151 community-dwelling solitary seniors, the present study examined the associations between social support and the sense of loneliness among solitary older adults in Hong Kong. The results showed that poor mental health status, financial inadequacy and weak social support networks were significantly associated with the sense of loneliness of solitary older adults, with social support being the most prominent risk factor. Frequent contacts with siblings, relatives or friends were found to be important sources of social support to combat loneliness. Policy and service implications are discussed.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationEmerging Technologies for Education - 1st International Symposium, SETE 2016 Held in Conjunction with ICWL 2016, Revised Selected Papers
EditorsRosella Gennari, Yiwei Cao, Yueh-Min Huang, Wu Wu, Haoran Xie
Pages326-330
Number of pages5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2017
Externally publishedYes
Event1st International Symposium on Emerging Technologies for Education, SETE 2016 Held in Conjunction with ICWL 2016 - Rome, Italy
Duration: 26 Oct 201629 Oct 2016

Publication series

NameLecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
Volume10108 LNCS
ISSN (Print)0302-9743
ISSN (Electronic)1611-3349

Conference

Conference1st International Symposium on Emerging Technologies for Education, SETE 2016 Held in Conjunction with ICWL 2016
Country/TerritoryItaly
CityRome
Period26/10/1629/10/16

Keywords

  • Hong Kong
  • Loneliness
  • Social support
  • Solidary older Chinese

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