[Social isolation and loneliness: What can we do as Primary Care teams?]
Loneliness and social isolation are emerging health conditions in the elderly population, in particular widows, high frequency users of health services and those with chronic problems and depression. Loneliness is the subjective feeling of having less affection and closeness than that desired in the intimate or relational field. Social isolation is an objective situation of having minimal contact with other people. Its contribution to increased morbidity and mortality is comparable to other well known risk factors that we deal with daily as Primary Care teams. Strategies to identify these problems in our patients and to perform scientific evidence based studies at individual and community level in cooperation with other community resources and interventions are discussed. The Primary Care team must promote the autonomy of these patients, facilitating their sociability, and act on their social maladaptive thoughts that hinder their social integration.
Institut Català de la Salut, Barcelona, España; CAPSBE, Consorci d'Atenció Primària de l'Eixample, Barcelona, España; Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, España; Servei de Medicina Preventiva i Epidemiologia, Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, Barcelona, España. Electronic address: jgene@clinic.ub.es.
Joan
J
Gené-Badia
CAPSBE, Consorci d'Atenció Primària de l'Eixample, Barcelona, España; Servei de Medicina Preventiva i Epidemiologia, Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, Barcelona, España.
Marina
M
Ruiz-Sánchez
CAPSBE, Consorci d'Atenció Primària de l'Eixample, Barcelona, España; Servei de Medicina Preventiva i Epidemiologia, Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, Barcelona, España.
Núria
N
Obiols-Masó
Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, España; Servei de Medicina Preventiva i Epidemiologia, Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, Barcelona, España.
Laura
L
Oliveras Puig
CAPSBE, Consorci d'Atenció Primària de l'Eixample, Barcelona, España; Servei de Medicina Preventiva i Epidemiologia, Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, Barcelona, España.
Elena
E
Lagarda Jiménez
D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008132:Loneliness; D011320:Primary Health Care; D012307:Risk Factors; D012934:Social Isolation
Aislamiento social; Atención primaria; Intervención; Intervention; Loneliness; Primary care; Social isolation; Soledad
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