When the only company you have is the television and the occasional phone call from distant relatives, it can be hard not to feel lonely.
To understand how loneliness affects older people and prevent the social isolation which can cause it, Auckland University researchers have begun asurvey of older people and "befriender" volunteers.
The four-month study will provide a stocktake of the services available and assess the difference they make to older people.
Dr Matthew Parsons, project leader and senior lecturer in gerontology at Auckland University, said there was a strong link between isolation and depression.
The survey would focus on older people who had recently been placed with a befriender to compare how they felt before using the service and three months down the track.
"Many older people live at home in isolation with minimal social contact, which reduces their physical and mental health," said Dr Parsons.
"We want to understand how befriending services meet the social needs of older people, to inform any future development."
Services such as Age Concern's Accredited Visiting Service would be included in the study, which would involve interviews with older people, befrienders, family and managers of services countrywide.
Dr Parsons said as the population aged it was becoming increasingly important to improve the health of older people.
The number of people aged over 65 was expected to double in the next 50 years and the number of 75-year-olds would increase four-fold.
"The 75-year-old age group is the group which concerns everyone. That's the group that tends to get ill, get less and less active and more disabled, which means they are less likely to go outside the house.
"The best way to stop being socially isolated is to remain fit and relatively healthy. That's the primary thing."
Dr Parsons said older people who were isolated were more likely to go to rest-homes where they had higher rates of depression, lower life expectancy and higher fall rates than those in private homes.
The study, managed by Auckland UniServices and financed by the Ministry of Health, will be completed by June. It will provide recommendations for future development and enhancement of services.
