SynthesisPersonality and social psychology review : an official journal of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc2011
A meta-analysis of interventions to reduce loneliness.
Synthesis in Personality and social psychology review : an official journal of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 7 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 677 papers, 15 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Social Prescribing in Sweden (SPiS)- An Interventional Research Project Evaluating a Swedish Model
Combating Social Isolation in Older Adults: Randomized Clinical Trial Evaluating the Acceptability and Efficacy of a Brief, Technology Delivered Intervention
Telematic Support Group in the Care of Domiciliary Patients With Feelings of Loneliness and Social Isolation: a Social Study
Brief Internet Interventions to Support Mental Health
Interventions to Reduce Loneliness in Elderly Patients in the Cardiac ICU (CICU): A Randomized Control Trial
The Feasibility, Acceptability and Preliminary Efficacy of a Group Intervention Aimed at Reducing Social and Emotional Loneliness: a Pilot Study
Alleviating Loneliness in Older Adults Living in Poverty: A Multi-level Intervention
Who cites it
677 citing papers in PubMed, 15 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Efficacy of Technology-Based Interventions on the Reduction of Loneliness: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Pooled it
- Impact of interventions addressing perinatal mental health on loneliness and/or satisfaction with social support: systematic review.BMC psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Effects of Psychosocial Interventions on Loneliness Amongst Long-Term Care Residents: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of advanced nursing · 2026Pooled it
- ASSeTS: a systematic review and development of the World Health Organization's classification system for social isolation and loneliness interventions.Population health metrics · 2026Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Systematic review and meta-analysis of mechanistic loneliness interventions for older adults.Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2025Pooled it
- What works to reduce loneliness: a rapid systematic review of 101 interventions.Journal of public health policy · 2025Pooled it
- Assessing the Effectiveness of Digital Health Behavior Strategies on Type 2 Diabetes Management: Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Pooled it
- Mapping the Landscape of Digital Health Intervention Strategies: 25-Year Synthesis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Pooled it
- [Internet-based self-help for loneliness-a systematic review].Bundesgesundheitsblatt, Gesundheitsforschung, Gesundheitsschutz · 2024Pooled it
- Tackling social disconnection: an umbrella review of RCT-based interventions targeting social isolation and loneliness.BMC public health · 2024Pooled it
- Efficacy of relational agents for loneliness across age groups: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC public health · 2024Pooled it
- Interventions to Reduce Loneliness in Community-Living Older Adults: a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Journal of general internal medicine · 2024Pooled it
- The Association Between Child Maltreatment and Loneliness Across the Lifespan: A Systematic Review and Multilevel Meta-Analysis.Child maltreatment · 2024Pooled it
- The association between social connectedness and euthanasia and assisted suicide and related constructs: systematic review.BMC public health · 2024Pooled it
- Participant Characteristics Associated With Loneliness Reduction During a Digital Social Robot Intervention Among Older Adults Living Alone in Japan: Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Trial
- A randomized controlled trial to address a multimodal intervention in the elderly: the effects of the CAMINN study.Aging clinical and experimental research · 2026Trial
- Trial
- Lonelier people feel less empathic despite intact neural empathy responses after meditation training.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2026Trial
- Trial
617 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Social and demographic trends are placing an increasing number of adults at risk for loneliness, an established risk factor for physical and mental illness. The growing costs of loneliness have led to a number of loneliness reduction interventions. Qualitative reviews have identified four primary intervention strategies: (a) improving social skills, (b) enhancing social support, (c) increasing opportunities for social contact, and (d) addressing maladaptive social cognition. An integrative meta-analysis of loneliness reduction interventions was conducted to quantify the effects of each strategy and to examine the potential role of moderator variables. Results revealed that single-group pre-post and nonrandomized comparison studies yielded larger mean effect sizes relative to randomized comparison studies. Among studies that used the latter design, the most successful interventions addressed maladaptive social cognition. This is consistent with current theories regarding loneliness and its etiology. Theoretical and methodological issues associated with designing new loneliness reduction interventions are discussed.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.