Home alone

There are plenty of projects that target social isolation amongst older people, but how can you tell what works? A team from the Peninsular College of Medicine and Dentistry has reviewed such interventions, finding there was "evidence of substantial heterogeneity" amongst studies and that comparatively few were well-conducted. Most effective interventions tended to offer social activity and/or some group support; those that engaged older people's active participation also tended to be more successful. A three year action research programme assessing neighbourhood approaches to loneliness from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation may be worth watching. A study considering the relationship between neighbourhood environment and positive mental health amongst older people in Hertfordshire showed that a sense of cohesion with neighbours was associated with better mental wellbeing and less reporting of neighbourhood problems, independently of socio economic and health status. Finally, a team from Birmingham University looks at older people's strategies for dealing with winter cold.