Published in:
01-05-2020 | Mood Disorders | Editorial
Loneliness and Social Isolation in Older Adults during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Implications for Gerontological Social Work
Authors:
Marla Berg-Weger, J. E. Morley
Published in:
The journal of nutrition, health & aging
|
Issue 5/2020
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Excerpt
Social workers and other gerontological scholars have increasingly voiced concern about loneliness (subjective perception of lack of meaningful relationships) and social isolation (social engagements and contacts) among older adults. In 2015, “Eradicate Social Isolation” was included as one of the twelve Grand Challenges for Social Work (
1). As key members of interprofessional geriatric teams, social workers are uniquely positioned to intervene in addressing social isolation by developing and testing interventions 1. By 2017, calling it a “loneliness epidemic”, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy proclaimed loneliness and social isolation among the world’s older adult population was a global epidemic (
2). …