Centre for Policy on Ageing



Stimulating friendship in later life — a strategy for reducing loneliness among older women
Author(s)	Nan Stevens, Theo van Tilburg
Journal title	Educational Gerontology, vol 26, no 1, January-February 2000
Pages	pp 15-36
Keywords	Older women ; Emotions ; Friendship ; Adult Education ; Courses ; Pilot ; Netherlands.
Annotation	In order to promote well-being and alleviate loneliness among older women, a course was developed to help them improve existing friendships or develop new friendships. In a pilot study in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, 32 course participants were interviewed on their friendships and loneliness at two points in time: immediately following the course, and a year later. Loneliness scores were compared to those of a matched control group from a large nationally representative Dutch sample. Both groups were very lonely initially and demonstrated a significant reduction in loneliness a year later. However, more women on the friendship course were successful in reducing their loneliness: these women had developed new friendships of varying degrees of closeness and had increased the complexity of their friendship networks. Limitations of the research design and suggestions for future studies on the friendship course are discussed. (RH).
Accession Number	CPA-000411224 A
Classmark	BD: DL: DS:SX: GP: VE: 4UC: 76H
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.