{"id":8960,"date":"2024-02-03T15:58:53","date_gmt":"2024-02-03T07:58:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/?p=8960"},"modified":"2024-02-03T15:59:11","modified_gmt":"2024-02-03T07:59:11","slug":"psychological-care-delivered-over-the-phone-is-effective-to-combat-loneliness-depression-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/psychological-care-delivered-over-the-phone-is-effective-to-combat-loneliness-depression-study\/","title":{"rendered":"Psychological care delivered over the phone is effective to combat loneliness, depression – study"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Depression and loneliness can be prevented using structured, telephone-based psychological care, delivered over eight weeks, according to new research.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study, led by a team based at the\u00a0University of York and Hull York Medical School\u00a0and at Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust, found levels of depression reduced significantly and the benefits were greater than those seen for antidepressants.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Participants in the study reported their levels of emotional loneliness fell by 21% over a three-month period and the benefits remained after the phone calls had ceased, suggesting an enduring impact.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Behavioural Activation in Social Isolation trial (BASIL+ trial<\/a>) started within months of the 2020 pandemic and was the largest trial ever undertaken to target and measure loneliness in this way. The study<\/a>, published in the journal The Lancet (Healthy Longevity)<\/em>, represents a rapid advance in evidence to understand what works in preventing loneliness.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

People invited to take part in the BASIL+ study were aged over 65 with multiple long-term conditions.  They had been asked to shield during COVID and were at a high risk of loneliness and depression.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hundreds of older people were recruited to the trial from 26 sites across the UK during the COVID pandemic of 2020-21.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Politicians and policy makers have become increasingly aware of the importance of loneliness, but have struggled to know \u201cwhat works\u201d in its prevention.\u00a0 The World Health Organization has just\u00a0declared loneliness to be a \u2018Global Health concern\u2019 and has launched an\u00a0international commission on the problem.\u00a0 It is anticipated that the results of the BASIL+ trial will feed into this process, since BASIL+ is the largest trial ever undertaken to combat loneliness. \u00a0 The Jo Cox Commission, established in memory of the murdered politician,\u00a0estimates that 9 million people are affected by loneliness in the UK\u00a0and there is a\u00a0cross governmental strategy to tackle loneliness, with a Ministerial appointment.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The research was jointly led by  Professor Simon Gilbody from the University of York and Hull York Medical School and Professor David Ekers from Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust. Professor Gilbody said: \u201cWe now know that loneliness is as bad for your health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day and depression is a silent killer.  All of us working on the BASIL+ trial had older parents and relatives who became socially isolated during lockdown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professor Ekers, Honorary Professor at the Mental Health and Addictions Research Group at the University of York and\u00a0Professor Dean McMillan, Professor of Clinical Psychology at Hull York Medical School and University of York designed and led the telephone support program.\u00a0 Professor McMillan said \u201can ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and this trial shows how we can prevent both depression and loneliness\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professor Lucy Chappell, CEO of the National Institute for Health and Care Research, which funded the study, said: “These results are an important step forward in understanding what works in tackling and preventing loneliness and depression. The research is also a great example of how public money allows researchers, healthcare professionals and the public to work together across institutions and organizations to deliver results that will really make a difference to people’s health and wellbeing.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The World Health Organization has just declared loneliness to be a \u2018Global Health concern\u2019 and has launched an international commission on the problem.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8961,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1414,2269,848],"class_list":["post-8960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsmakers","tag-mental-disorder","tag-mental-exercise","tag-mental-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8960"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8960\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8962,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8960\/revisions\/8962"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}