Social Isolation and Loneliness Among Older Asian Immigrants Through the Lens of Sense of Coherence: Systematic Review of Qualitative Studies.

The review included only qualitative studies, so it describes experiences and themes rather than measuring how common they are or testing whether interventions help. It searched only English-language studies published between 2014 and 2024, so non-English research and older evidence were not included. Older Chinese immigrants were over-represented (70% of included papers), so the themes may not reflect other Asian immigrant groups. The review excluded people in institutional settings and studies focused on cognitive impairment, chronic disease, disability, recent widowhood, refugee status, homelessness, LGBTQIA+ status or pandemic isolation, so it may not apply to those groups. Many studies did not report duration of residence, health status or geographic context clearly, limiting how these factors can be linked to isolation and loneliness. The included studies did not examine government policy or service provision in depth, so the review says little about how systems shape access to support.

This work was supported by an internal University of Wollongong start-up grant (M0869). No external funding was received. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.

Do not read these themes as evidence that any intervention reduces social isolation or loneliness. The review analysed qualitative reports from 10 studies and did not test treatments.