Feb 11, 2024 3 min read

Weekly Phone Calls Improve Mental Health In Isolated Seniors

Weekly Phone Calls Improve Mental Health In Isolated Seniors Victoria Forster, Contributor

Seniors who received a weekly phone call reported lower levels of depression and loneliness, ... [+] according to a new study,

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A weekly phone call significantly improved mental health in seniors experiencing loneliness and depression, according to a new study.

The work led by researchers at The University of Manchester in the U.K. signed up 435 people over the age of 65 during the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic in the U.K. All of the participants had been asked to "shield," themselves from the virus due to having multiple health conditions putting them at increased risk of severe consequences should they become infected.

The average age of participants was 76 and they were split equally into two study groups. One half received normal care and the other half were offered a weekly phone call over 8 weeks, with a coach specially trained to encourage them to remain active and maintain their social connections. Over a three month period, participants in the study receiving the phone calls reported a decrease in the severity of depressive symptoms and loneliness compared to the half receiving normal care.

"We now know that loneliness is as bad for your health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day and depression is a silent killer," said Simon Gilbody, Professor of Psychological Medicine & Psychiatric Epidemiology at the University of York in the U.K. and one of the leaders of the work. "All of us working on the trial had older parents and relatives who became socially isolated during lockdown," Gilbody added.

The study named BASIL+ was published in The Lancet [Healthy Longevity] and crucially, after the weekly phone calls had stopped, participants reported that their mental health remained improved compared to before the intervention.

"The phone calls enabled people formulate plans to remain active and to maintain their social networks. When the phone calls ended people had a plan and a script in place to enact longer lasting change. The durable impact of the intervention tells us that this happened; people valued the practical and forward-looking focus of the phone calls," said Gilbody.

Although this trial took place during the Covid-19 pandemic which resulted in substantial mental health challenges for many people, loneliness is a topic that has garnered significant attention in recent years, with the World Health Organization (WHO) even declaring it to be a significant global public health threat, assembling an international commission to tackle the problem. Last year, the U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy released an advisory to call attention to the "public health crisis" of social isolation, loneliness and lack of connection in the U.S.

Dr. Vivek Murthy released a new Surgeon General Advisory calling attention to the public health ... [+] crisis of loneliness, isolation, and lack of connection in the U.S. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

"Loneliness was a fringe interest before the pandemic, but the U.S. Surgeon General's report and the WHO commission have pushed it to become a topic of interest for policy makers and the public. The epidemic of loneliness has not gone away, but we now know what works in preventing loneliness," said Gilbody.

The University of Michigan's National Poll on Healthy Aging data showed that 34% of seniors reported feeling isolated from others some of the time or often in 2023. This has declined from a high of 56% in June 2020 at one of the most disruptive points of the Covid-19 pandemic, but remains higher than 27% in October 2018.

The discussion about digital healthcare solutions including the pros and cons of "virtual" appointments have been brought into sharp forecast by the pandemic. And as healthcare systems around the world struggle with clinician burnout, low staffing and recruitment, clinical teams are increasingly looking for technology-based solutions including virtual care interventions to help their patients.

"Though the intervention was telephone based, there are opportunities to work with digital partners to enhance access to effective strategies to prevent loneliness," said Gilbody, adding that he thinks that the study could lead to a scalable solution to loneliness and hopes to work with policy makers and providers of care to expand the potential benefits of this strategy,