An Update on Loneliness Theory and Practice for Health Professionals

IF 1.5 4区 心理学 Q3 PSYCHOLOGY, CLINICAL
G. Dingle, J. Groarke
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Loneliness has been described as an aversive emotional state experienced when people’s desire for social connection is not met. Loneliness is widespread — an estimated one in four adults in Australia feels lonely (Australian Psychological Society, 2018) and the rate has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic and related lockdowns and social distancing policies. While the experience of loneliness is considered to be universal (Barreto et al., 2021), it is also implicated in the development and progression of a range of physical and mental health conditions (Park et al., 2020) — as some papers in this collection help to demonstrate. Loneliness itself is not a diagnosable condition, which may explain why the availability of theoretical models and specific assessment and intervention options for loneliness has lagged those for other emotional states such as anxiety, depression, anger, and shame. As loneliness researchers from the disciplines of health, clinical, and music psychology, we have guest edited this collection of short reports to bring readers an update on the understanding, measurement, and intervention strategies to address loneliness in a range of populations and contexts. There are seven papers in the collection. The first is a review and meta-analysis of studies examining the relationship between loneliness and depressive symptoms in children and adolescents (Dunn & Sicouri, 2022). This review included 44 studies published between 1983 and 2021, representing data from 27,214 participants aged 9–18 years. The review established an overall positive correlation between loneliness and depression of r = 0.48, which is consistent with earlier research on adult populations. Interestingly, participant gender and age did not moderate the strength of the relationship between loneliness and depression. The authors spoke of the potential role of health professionals in helping young people to feel part of a group, maintain the quality and quantity of their relationships and experience social rewards. The second paper examined loneliness and sense of belonging in Australian university students, using a comparison of three cohorts of first year students entering a metropolitan university in 2019 (pre-COVID-19), 2020 (first wave of COVID), and 2021 (lifting of public health restrictions) (Dingle, Han, & Carlyle, 2022). This study highlighted the detrimental social impact of COVID-19 and the associated rapid move to isolated online learning for university students in terms of increased loneliness and decreased sense of university belonging for students in the 2020 cohort. These social effects were strongly related to levels of psychological distress. The implications for health professionals and university staff are to help students to develop a sense of connection and belonging at university both in educational activities and in extra-curricular social activities. The third and fourth papers focus on sensory aspects of loneliness such as touch and sound. For people who lived alone during COVID-19 long lockdowns, the absence of social touch was emphasised, and people spoke of a desire to hug their loved ones and to be physically close to other people again. Noone and McKenna-Plumley’s (2022) narrative review argues that elements of presence, absence, and type of touch may impact upon loneliness experiences. Disentangling the relationship
卫生专业人员孤独感理论与实践的最新进展
孤独被描述为当人们对社会联系的渴望得不到满足时所经历的一种厌恶的情绪状态。孤独是普遍存在的——估计澳大利亚每四个成年人中就有一个感到孤独(澳大利亚心理学会,2018),在新冠肺炎大流行以及相关封锁和社交距离政策期间,这一比例有所上升。虽然孤独感被认为是普遍的(Barreto等人,2021),但它也与一系列身心健康状况的发展和进展有关(Park等人,2020)——正如本系列中的一些论文所帮助证明的那样。孤独本身不是一种可诊断的状况,这可以解释为什么孤独的理论模型、具体评估和干预选项的可用性落后于焦虑、抑郁、愤怒和羞耻等其他情绪状态。作为来自健康、临床和音乐心理学学科的孤独感研究人员,我们客座编辑了这组简短报告,为读者带来了在各种人群和环境中解决孤独感的理解、测量和干预策略的最新信息。收藏中有七篇论文。第一是对儿童和青少年孤独感与抑郁症状之间关系的研究进行综述和荟萃分析(Dunn&Sicuri,2022)。这篇综述包括1983年至2021年间发表的44项研究,代表了27214名9-18岁参与者的数据。该综述确定了孤独和抑郁之间的总体正相关关系,r=0.48,这与早期对成年人群的研究一致。有趣的是,参与者的性别和年龄并没有调节孤独和抑郁之间关系的强度。作者谈到了卫生专业人员在帮助年轻人感受到自己是一个群体的一部分、保持人际关系的质量和数量以及体验社会回报方面的潜在作用。第二篇论文研究了澳大利亚大学生的孤独感和归属感,对2019年(新冠肺炎前)、2020年(第一波新冠肺炎)和2021年(解除公共卫生限制)进入大都市大学的三组一年级学生进行了比较(丁格尔、韩和卡莱尔,2022)。这项研究强调了新冠肺炎的有害社会影响,以及与此相关的大学生快速转向孤立的在线学习,这增加了2020年学生的孤独感和大学归属感。这些社会影响与心理痛苦程度密切相关。对卫生专业人员和大学工作人员的影响是帮助学生在大学的教育活动和课外社交活动中培养联系感和归属感。第三篇和第四篇论文关注孤独的感官方面,如触觉和声音。对于那些在新冠肺炎长期封锁期间独自生活的人来说,社交接触的缺失得到了强调,人们表达了拥抱亲人和再次与他人身体亲近的愿望。Noone和McKenna Plumley(2022)的叙事评论认为,在场、缺席和触摸类型的元素可能会影响孤独体验。解开关系
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来源期刊
Behaviour Change
Behaviour Change PSYCHOLOGY, CLINICAL-
CiteScore
2.70
自引率
0.00%
发文量
24
期刊介绍: Behaviour Change is the journal of the Australian Association for Cognitive and Behavioural Therapy and has long been considered a leader in its field. It is a quarterly journal that publishes research involving the application of behavioural and cognitive-behavioural principles and techniques to the assessment and treatment of various problems. Features of Behaviour Change include: original empirical studies using either single subject or group comparison methodologies review articles case studies brief technical and clinical notes book reviews special issues dealing with particular topics in depth.
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