Psychiatric News (2/6) reported, “Socially isolated older adults who received one of two brief, telephone-based psychosocial interventions showed significant reductions in loneliness at 12 months compared with those who received ‘befriending’ phone calls that didn’t include psychosocial skills,” according to findings from a study of 1,151 older adults in Hong Kong. However, “the findings were mainly applicable to lonely, Cantonese-speaking, older adults with limited resources and may not be generalizable to populations with greater socioeconomic, cultural, or linguistic diversity.” The research was published in JAMA Network Open.
Related Links:
— “Brief Lay-Delivered Phone Interventions Can Reduce Loneliness Among Older Adults, Psychiatric News, February 6, 2026