Social aspects of recovery in mental health treatment for older people
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Working with social isolation and loneliness in a secondary care older people's mental health team: the experience of service-users and healthcare professionals
IRAS ID
317684
Contact name
Loveday Newman
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 10 months, 30 days
Research summary
Social isolation and loneliness are associated with worse mental health, especially depression. There is growing evidence that reducing social isolation and loneliness is important for people's recovery from mental health problems. This may be especially important as service involvement is now time-limited and community focused.
Social isolation and loneliness are related but distinct concepts. In our service (Cambridge Older People's Mental Health team; OPMH) we tend to ask about social isolation more than loneliness in our initial assessments. This may mean that we are not targeting loneliness as much as social isolation in our interventions.
The aim of this study is to find out what Cambridge OPMH are currently doing to address social aspects of service-users' recovery, and understand how it compares with current best evidence and the service-user's perspective. Research questions are:
1) How do healthcare professionals in OPMH work with social aspects of recovery?
a) Are we addressing social isolation, loneliness or both?
b) Are we tailoring interventions to whether it is social isolation or loneliness?
c) How does what we are doing compare to what the current best evidence suggests?2) What do service-users think of what we are doing to address social aspects of their recovery?
Qualitative semi-structured interviews will be conducted with service-users with a diagnosis of depression and healthcare professionals under Cambridge OPMH (secondary care service for adults aged 65+ with more complex mental health problems). Thematic analysis will be used to identify important themes in the data. The study is planned to last for one year.
This study will help to develop a greater understanding of how we work with social isolation and loneliness and what service-users think of this work. This will enable us to improve the way we work with these issues.
REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - South Yorkshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
22/YH/0180
Date of REC Opinion
5 Sep 2022
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion