Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Sep;27(11):2539-2548.
doi: 10.1177/13591053211017198. Epub 2021 Nov 12.

The meaning of loneliness to stroke survivors: A qualitative study in Northeast England

Keming Yang  1 , Nicole Armstrong  2 , Clare Diamond  3 , Alison R Lane  1 , Stephen Dunne  4
Affiliations

The meaning of loneliness to stroke survivors: A qualitative study in Northeast England

Keming Yang et al. J Health Psychol. 2022 Sep.

Abstract

This study explored stroke survivors' experiences of loneliness. Drawing on interviews with 29 community-dwelling stroke survivors living in the Northeast of England, we found several themes: loneliness as being alone, the season or time, lack of understanding from those without any experience of stroke, reduced autonomy, and deterioration of social relations. It is important that healthcare professionals pay attention to the aspects of life that may increase the chances of a stroke survivor becoming lonely after being discharged from hospital, and to measure loneliness in stroke survivors a more valid scale should include items that touch on the aspects reported here.

Keywords: loneliness; qualitative methods; social isolation; stigma; stroke.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of conflicting interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

References

    1. Adamsen L. (2002) “From victim to agent”: The clinical and social significance of self-help group participation for people with life-threatening diseases. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences 16(3): 224–231. - PubMed
    1. Cacioppo JT, Hawkley LC, Thisted RA. (2010) Perceived social isolation makes me sad: Five year cross-lagged analyses of loneliness and depressive symptomatology in the Chicago Health, Aging, and Social Relations Study. Psychology and Ageing 25(2): 453–463. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ch’Ng AM, French D, Mclean N. (2008) Coping with the challenges of recovery from stroke: long term perspectives of stroke support group members. Journal of Health Psychology 13(8): 1136–1146. - PubMed
    1. Christiansen J, Larsen FB, Lasgaard M. (2016) Do stress, health behaviour, and sleep mediate the association between loneliness and adverse health conditions among older people? Social Science and Medicine 152: 80–86. - PubMed
    1. Corrigan PW, Druss BG, Perlick DA. (2014) The impact of mental illness stigma on seeking and participating in mental health care. Psychological Science in the Public Interest 15(2): 37–70. - PubMed