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      Long-term care need, loneliness, and perceived social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic: evidence from the German Ageing Survey

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          Abstract

          Background

          There is a complete lack of studies focusing on the association between care degree (reflecting the long-term care need) and loneliness or social isolation in Germany.

          Aims

          To investigate the association between care degree and loneliness as well as perceived social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

          Methods

          We used data from the nationally representative German Ageing Survey, which covers community-dwelling middle-aged and older individuals aged 40 years or over. We used wave 8 of the German Ageing Survey (analytical sample: n = 4334 individuals, mean age was 68.9 years, SD: 10.2 years; range 46–100 years). To assess loneliness, the De Jong Gierveld instrument was used. To assess perceived social isolation, the Bude and Lantermann instrument was used. Moreover, the level of care was used as a key independent variable (absence of care degree (0); care degree 1–5).

          Results

          After adjusting for various covariates, regressions showed that there were no significant differences between individuals without a care degree and individuals with a care degree of 1 or 2 in terms of loneliness and perceived social isolation. In contrast, individuals with a care degree of 3 or 4 had higher loneliness ( β = 0.23, p = 0.034) and higher perceived social isolation scores ( β = 0.38, p < 0.01) compared to individuals without a care degree.

          Discussion/conclusions

          Care degrees of 3 or 4 are associated with higher levels of both loneliness and perceived social isolation. Longitudinal studies are required to confirm this association.

          Related collections

          Most cited references25

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            A 6-Item Scale for Overall, Emotional, and Social Loneliness: Confirmatory Tests on Survey Data

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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                a.hajek@uke.de
                Journal
                Aging Clin Exp Res
                Aging Clin Exp Res
                Aging Clinical and Experimental Research
                Springer International Publishing (Cham )
                1594-0667
                1720-8319
                26 April 2023
                26 April 2023
                : 1-8
                Affiliations
                [1 ]GRID grid.13648.38, ISNI 0000 0001 2180 3484, Department of Health Economics and Health Services Research, , University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg Center for Health Economics, ; Martinistr. 52, 20246 Hamburg, Germany
                [2 ]GRID grid.13648.38, ISNI 0000 0001 2180 3484, Division of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery, , University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, ; Hamburg, Germany
                [3 ]GRID grid.13648.38, ISNI 0000 0001 2180 3484, Department of Periodontics, Preventive and Restorative Dentistry, Center for Dental and Oral Medicine, , University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, ; Hamburg, Germany
                [4 ]GRID grid.413355.5, ISNI 0000 0001 2221 4219, African Population and Health Research Center, ; Nairobi, Kenya
                [5 ]GRID grid.1031.3, ISNI 0000000121532610, National Centre for Naturopathic Medicine, Faculty of Health, , Southern Cross University, ; Lismore, NSW Australia
                [6 ]GRID grid.1002.3, ISNI 0000 0004 1936 7857, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, , Monash University, ; Melbourne, VIC 3004 Australia
                [7 ]GRID grid.1002.3, ISNI 0000 0004 1936 7857, School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health, , Monash University, ; Melbourne, VIC 3004 Australia
                Author information
                http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6886-2745
                Article
                2411
                10.1007/s40520-023-02411-0
                10130804
                37099237
                d47b9832-026b-4f83-82ce-bc09ab5fe3e6
                © The Author(s) 2023

                Open AccessThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

                History
                : 12 February 2023
                : 12 April 2023
                Funding
                Funded by: Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) (5411)
                Categories
                Original Article

                care degree,care level,loneliness,social isolation,social exclusion,functional impairment,autonomy,long-term care,functional dependence

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