The Mediating Role of Health Empowerment in the Relationship Between Social Support and Loneliness Among Nursing Home Residents: A Correlational Study.
Hüsne Demirel, Sultan Ayaz-Alkaya
PMID 39466607WHAT IT FOUND
Nursing home residents who reported more social support also reported more health empowerment and less loneliness.
Empowerment partly explained this link. The study cannot show that increasing support reduces loneliness.
Key findings
01The mean loneliness score was 10.91 on a 0 to 22 scale, and 58.8% of residents reported acceptable loneliness, 11.9% very lonely and 16.2% very intense lonely.
02Higher perceived social support was associated with higher health empowerment and lower loneliness.
03Health empowerment explained part of the association between social support and loneliness, but social support remained associated with loneliness.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Only residents in three nursing homes in one city in Turkiye were studied, so it may not apply elsewhere. Residents with visual or hearing impairment or neuropsychiatric problems such as dementia or Alzheimer's were excluded, so the results do not cover residents with those conditions. All data were self-reported, and psychological status was not measured. The study measured associations at one time point, so it cannot show cause and effect. The paper recommends nurses implement social support and empowerment programmes, but no programme was tested.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that social support or health empowerment programmes reduce loneliness. This study measured associations at one time point and did not test an intervention.