Associations between loneliness and perceived social support and outcomes of mental health problems: a systematic review

Wang, Jingyi; Mann, Farhana; Lloyd‐Evans, Brynmor; Ma, Ruimin; Johnson, Sonia

doi:10.1186/s12888-018-1736-5

Cited by 913 publications

(777 citation statements)

References 80 publications

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“…The finding coheres with previous studies that reported associations between loneliness, depression, and anxious depression [1, 9, 16-18, 47, 55]. For instance, a systematic review [56] reported association between a high level of loneliness and severe depressive symptoms. The results could suggest the collapse of family or social networks and the traditional family support systems for the elderly in Nigerian communities especially in the rural areas [7].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Prevalence of loneliness and association with depressive and anxiety symptoms among retirees in Northcentral Nigeria: a cross-sectional study

et al. 2020

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Background: Retirees face numerous challenges, including disassociation from persons in their social networks in Nigeria. Perceived social isolation or loneliness could impair the quality of life in old age, and lead to mental disorders. However, it is uncertain whether perceived loneliness has an independent association with depressive and anxiety symptoms and comorbid conditions in Nigerian retirees. Therefore, we aimed at examining the association between perceived loneliness, depressive and anxiety symptoms, including comorbid conditions among retirees in Northcentral Nigeria. Methods: This community-based cross-sectional study enrolled retirees aged 60 years and above in different pension zones from February 2019 to August 2019. A two-stage sampling procedure was used to select the study participants. Data on perceived loneliness, depressive, and anxiety symptoms were collected using the 8-item University of California, Los Angeles Loneliness Scale (ULS-8), and the DASS 21-depression and anxiety subscales, respectively. We collected information on the demographic characteristics using a well-validated structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, binary and multivariable logistic regression were used to examine the independent associations between loneliness, depression, anxiety, and anxious depression. P-values below 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results: The mean age of participants was 71.3 (± 6.01) years, and 54.4% were men. The prevalence of loneliness, depression, anxiety, and anxious depression was 21.8, 52.0, 27.7, and 20.5%, respectively. Retirees with depression or anxiety symptoms perceived that they were lonelier than those without depression or anxiety. The multivariable logistic regression model showed that female gender (AOR 1.49; 95% CI (1.09, 2.00), having secondary education (AOR 2.24, 95% CI (1.40, 3.57) and having higher education (AOR 3.82, 95%CI (2.37, 6.16) were significantly associated with depression. Also, lonely retirees are 1.19 times (AOR 1.19; 95% CI (0.84, 1.69) more likely to be depressed compared to retirees that are not lonely, and the anxious depressed retirees are 314.58 times (AOR 314.58; 95% CI (508.05, 1941.70) more likely to be depressed than those without anxious depression.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Prevalence of loneliness and association with depressive and anxiety symptoms among retirees in Northcentral Nigeria: a cross-sectional study

et al. 2020

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“…Therefore, social support may serve as a method for improving the psychological components of disease management, such as coping, anxiety, and depression. This finding is consistent with previous literature indicating that social support may have stronger relationships with psychological outcomes among healthy and chronic condition populations (Uchino, ; Wang, Mann, Lloyd‐Evans, Ma, & Johnson, ). Therefore, social support interventions can be utilized to address the multiple psychological comorbidities that exist with IBD (Bannaga & Selinger, ; Byrne et al., ).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Systematic Review of Social Support on Psychological Symptoms and Self‐Management Behaviors Among Adults With Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Kamp

West

Holmstrom

et al. 2019

J of Nursing Scholarship

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Purpose The purpose was to determine the relationship between social support, psychological symptoms and self‐management behaviors among adults with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and examine the influence of types of social support and patient age. Design This was a systematic review. PubMed, Web of Science, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), PsycINFO, Communication and Mass Media Complete, and Communication Abstracts were searched. Publication dates were limited to January 2000 to August 2018. Methods The systematic review was guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analysis statement, and quality was appraised based on the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme for cohort studies tool. The data were synthesized using narrative synthesis techniques. Findings The literature review yielded 458 results. Eight articles met inclusion criteria. Articles utilized a variety of conceptualizations of both social support and self‐management behaviors, making comparisons difficult. Findings demonstrated an inverse relationship between social support and psychological symptoms, and in one study only when social support buffered high stress. Studies with significant relationships between age and self‐management behaviors indicated that a lower age was associated with decreased self‐management behaviors. Conclusions Social support has the potential to influence psychological symptoms among patients with IBD. Future research should examine types of social support (i.e., emotional, informational, and tangible support) and measure levels of received social support. Clinical Relevance Social support may serve as a modifiable factor to improve psychological symptoms among adults with IBD. Younger adults (age <40 years) may benefit from specialized interventions to address self‐management behaviors.

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“…Adults with depressive episode were around 11 times more likely to feel lonely compared to those with no mental disorder [8]. Greater loneliness was also reported to be associated with more severe depressive symptoms and poorer remission from depression in a systematic review [47]. Masi and colleagues [48] described a regulatory loop model of loneliness, in which people who are lonely tend to have negative and biased social cognitions [49].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Epidemiology of loneliness in a cohort of UK mental health community crisis service users

Wang

Lloyd‐Evans

Marston

et al. 2019

Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol

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Purpose Loneliness is an important issue for mental health service users. However, it has not been a particularly prominent focus of recent mental health research. This paper aimed to explore the severity of loneliness among people leaving mental health community crisis services, and to identify factors associated with loneliness. Methods A total of 399 participants experiencing mental health crises recruited for a research trial from community crisis services were included in this cross-sectional study. They completed the eight-item measure of the University of California at Los Angeles Loneliness Scale and a set of instruments assessing socio-demographic, psychosocial, and psychiatric variables. Results Severity of loneliness was high among people leaving community crisis services. Longer years since first contact with mental health services (2-10 years, coefficient = 1.83, 95% CI 0.49-3.16; more than 10 years, coefficient = 1.91, 95% CI 0.46-3.36) and more severe affective symptoms (coefficient = 0.32, 95% CI 0.23-0.40) were associated with greater loneliness, whereas bigger social network size (coefficient = − 0.56, 95% CI − 0.76 to − 0.36) and greater social capital (coefficient = − 0.16, 95% CI − 0.31 to − 0.003) were associated with less severe loneliness. Conclusions This paper supports a view that people experiencing mental health crises often report relatively severe loneliness, and that loneliness tends to become more severe during the course of illness. A greater awareness of loneliness among mental health professionals may be beneficial. Loneliness is a potential focus of the development of interventions to improve the lives and outcomes of people with significant mental health problems.

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Associations between loneliness and perceived social support and outcomes of mental health problems: a systematic review

Cited by 913 publications

References 80 publications

Prevalence of loneliness and association with depressive and anxiety symptoms among retirees in Northcentral Nigeria: a cross-sectional study

Prevalence of loneliness and association with depressive and anxiety symptoms among retirees in Northcentral Nigeria: a cross-sectional study

Systematic Review of Social Support on Psychological Symptoms and Self‐Management Behaviors Among Adults With Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Epidemiology of loneliness in a cohort of UK mental health community crisis service users

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