Loneliness among older people is a growing issue globally, even if the numbers are difficult to estimate as loneliness most commonly is measured as social loneliness only. Social loneliness embraces social aspects needs for human relationships and is often measured in the form of the number of contacts someone has, how extensive the social network is, cohabitation or not, etc. Loneliness is, however, a complex concept that also involves physical as existential dimensions. The physical dimension involves the need closeness and touch, while loneliness in its existential form runs much deeper than social and physical loneliness and is described as an unavoidable condition of humanity. This means that even if other people surround you, you can experience profound loneliness in its existential form. Existential loneliness is usually described in association with death, dying, and cancer when questions about the meaning of life come to the fore. Studies involving health care staff (physicians, registered nurses, assistant nurses, social workers, physio- and occupational therapists) shows that the staff’s encounter with older people’s EE was experienced as both meaningful and challenging. ALONE project has two main objective: 1)To educate nurses about the different dimensions of loneliness to be able to detect and recognize loneliness in all its forms among older people; 2) To encourage nurses and strengthen their ability to encounter loneliness in general and existential loneliness in particular. The target group of ALONE project are: nurses and other health professionals working in home care, nursing home care, palliative care, primary care, hospital care, or pre-hospital care. The aim of the project is to develop a best practice collection in coping with older persons loneliness and a training package for nurses and other health care professionals who currently have limited or no training in how to cope with older persons affected by existential loneliness provide qualified and integrative care to this vulnerable target group. By using a transnational project approach, a collection of good practice, a functional training material and pedagogical guidelines that take into account the European social and cultural diversity in various elderly healthcare facilities will be generated and consequently the developed training material will be more easily adopted and used across Europe. By increasing knowledge and awareness about these aspects among partners and their networks, the project will also promote a broader health and social dialogue about the need to have adequate training on dealing with loneliness among older people in order to provide better patient care, increase life expectancy.
- Health care organisations will have access to continuing education and training, which will update their health professionals' knowledge in this area in order to maintain safe and effective practice in older persons; - The quick impact after training and local seminars through high quality work-based VET that enhances service provision by addressing the need to create tools on how to provide and evaluate healthcare for older persons in a structured way; - The training is economically viable to implement and at the same time be able to reach a large group of members of health staff or NGO's. This is due to the methodological design of a concrete and focused 1-2 days training course that emphasis on addressing knowledge and skill deficits in this area. - Providing the tools on how to implement and monitoring these changes for all patient groups, including those that are atrisk for social exclusion and poverty by the training course.
We applyed for this project because loneliness among older people is a growing issue globally, even if the numbers are difficult to estimate as loneliness most commonly is measured as social loneliness only. We also know that nurses are troubled by conscience when feeling unable to relieve suffering and provide proper care to their patients. This indicates that being unable to work and act according to one’s values could create a feeling of guilt among professionals and promote neither good encounters nor good relations. Studies involving health care staff (physicians, registered nurses, assistant nurses, social workers, physio- and occupational therapists) shows that the staff’s encounter with older people’s EE was experienced as both meaningful and challenging. This project thus has a twofold purpose: 1) To educate nurses about the different dimensions of loneliness to be able to detect and recognize loneliness in all its forms among older people. 2) To encourage nurses and strengthen their ability to encounter loneliness in general and existential loneliness in particular