Socially isolated older adults who received one of two brief, telephone-based psychosocial interventions showed significant reductions in loneliness at 12 months compared with those who received “befriending” phone calls that didn’t include psychosocial skills, according to a
report in
JAMA Network Open.
Why It’s Relevant
Loneliness is a pervasive global public health concern, affecting approximately 30% of older adults across the United States, Europe, and Asia, and is associated with poor cardiovascular, mental, and cognitive health and increased risk of premature mortality. Scalable interventions that can reach lonely and isolated individuals are needed.
About the Interventions
- Telephone Behavioral Activation (Tele-BA) is a structured, goal-oriented program designed to encourage participants to engage in meaningful activities independently.
- Telephone Mindfulness (Tele-MF) aims to reduce loneliness by fostering present-moment awareness and acceptance.
- Telephone Befriending (Tele-BF) offers emotional and informational support without teaching any psychosocial skills.
By the Numbers
- A total of 1,151 older adults (843 female) in Hong Kong were randomized to eight 30-minute sessions of Tele-BA (335), Tele-MF (460), or Tele-BF (356) across four weeks. All three interventions were delivered by trained lay counselors.
- At 12 months, adults who had received either Tele-BA or Tele-MF had significant reductions in two measures of loneliness (the UCLA Loneliness Scale and the De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale) compared with adults receiving Tele-BF.
- Secondary outcomes such as sleep quality, psychological well-being, perceived social support, and life satisfaction also improved significantly in the Tele-BA and Tele-MF groups.
- The strong reductions in loneliness at 12 months were mediated in part by increased social connections among the adults at six months.
The Other Side
The findings were mainly applicable to lonely, Cantonese-speaking, older adults with limited resources and may not be generalizable to populations with greater socioeconomic, cultural, or linguistic diversity.
What’s Next?
The researchers said that involvement of older adult peers as lay counselors underscored the potential of these interventions to offer accessible, scalable solutions for promoting well-being in resource-limited contexts. “Future research should evaluate the cost-effectiveness and implementation feasibility of these approaches across diverse populations and refine adaptive intervention sequences to enhance and sustain long-term outcomes.”
Related Information
Source
Vivien Foong Yee Tang, et. al. Behavioral activation and mindfulness interventions in reducing loneliness and improving well-being in older adults: the HEAL-HOA randomized clinical trial. JAMA Open Network. Published February 2, 2026. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.57170
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