Research and analysis

Exploring interventions to tackle loneliness

A rapid systematic review summarising what interventions work to tackle loneliness and a report exploring the knowledge of professionals working to evaluate loneliness interventions.

Documents

Loneliness interventions across the life-course: Appendix 3

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Loneliness interventions across the life-course: Appendix 5

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Details

When the tackling loneliness strategy was published in 2018 the government commissioned What Works Centre for Wellbeing to explore what works to tackle loneliness.

Since the publication of the strategy the tackling loneliness evidence base has grown exponentially. Therefore, DCMS commissioned What Works Centre for Wellbeing to update their previous work and determine what more is needed to continue improving the evidence base.

A rapid systematic review explored the following question:

What is the effectiveness of interventions aimed at alleviating loneliness and/or social isolation in people of all ages across the life course?

To further understand the landscape of tackling loneliness interventions, the following  questions were also explored through stakeholder engagement:

What types of interventions exist to tackle loneliness, and what factors influence their design and delivery?

What evaluation practices exist for small to medium organisations, and what are the enabling and limiting factors to robust evaluation?

What is required to improve the quality of evaluations for organisations working to tackle loneliness, and what should the respective roles of government, sector, researchers and delivery organisations be?

Updates to this page

Published 4 September 2023

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