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UNAB and MICARE organised a seminar on isolation and loneliness in older people

Foto de Alejandra Araya y Soledad Herrera por videollamada. De fondo se ve un diseño abstracto con colores azules y púrpuras.

By Natalia Correa.

On June 14, the Doctoral Program in Nursing Science of the Andrés Bello University (UNAB) and the Millennium Institute for Care Research (MICARE) organised an online seminar as part of the cycle “Join research”. The theme of the event was the situation of isolation and loneliness experienced by older people, and the determining consequences on their life quality.

The talk was given by Soledad Herrera, associate researcher at MICARE and academic of Sociology at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, and moderated by Alejandra Araya, associate researcher at MICARE and academic of the UNAB Doctorate in Nursing Science.

In the instance, Soledad Herrera highlighted the large percentage of the population of older people who feel lonely, a figure severely affected by the pandemic: 40% admit to having feelings of loneliness. In addition, she explained the fundamental role that social relationships play in coping with this type of emotion and avoiding the negative consequences, a significant problem considering the high number of older people in the country.

“Old age is ageing. Not only are people over 60 years old increasing, but people aged 80 and over are also increasing. This implies a series of challenges for public policies,” said Soledad Herrera.