In-person contact is most effective in lessening loneliness in older adults, working better than phoning, emailing or texting, according to a new study published in The Journals of Gerontology: Series B Psychological Science.
Researchers from the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, followed 313 older adults in the Austin, TX, area in 2016 and 2017, before the COVID-19 pandemic expanded the use of digital communications and increased isolation in older adults. The investigators asked participants every three waking hours about their levels of loneliness and social contact, and whether that contact was in-person, by phone or digital via texting or social media.
“We were interested to see how older adults react when they are lonely and the effects that different types of social contact had on that loneliness,” Shiyang Zhang, PhD, co-author and University of Texas at Austin postdoctoral fellow, said in a statement. “We found that when older adults feel lonely, they are more likely to pick up the phone and call someone. But in-person visits were the only type of contact that actually decreased levels of reported loneliness.”
Although older adults engage in both in-person and phone contact when they feel lonely, only in-person contact may reduce loneliness, the researchers concluded. Digital contact — defined as texting, emailing or social media contact — was not widely used in response to loneliness among older adults.
The authors noted that familiarity and comfort with various technologies are important factors to consider. Compared with digital communication, older adults may find phone communication more comfortable, but some older adults with hearing loss have difficulty with some modes of communication. The lack of verbal or language-based cues in phone and digital communication can impede older adults from the deep conversations needed for the emotional fulfillment and connectedness to combat loneliness, they said.
The study also looked at whether the social contact was with people with close or weak social ties. When older adults felt lonely, they were more likely to contact close friends and family members, according to the researchers. But even in-person contact with acquaintances contributed to lower levels of loneliness, they found.
The investigators said that their findings underscore older adults’ willingness to maintain regular contact with close ties, and they said that interventions addressing loneliness should consider innovative approaches to increase in-person contact. And although digital device use has been more prevalent since the pandemic, older adults did not seek digital contact in response to loneliness, the researchers pointed out.
The study was supported by grants from the National Institute on Aging and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
This article originally appeared on McKnight's Senior Living
