Stimulating friendship in later life: A strategy for reducing loneliness among older women

In order to promote well-being and alleviate loneliness among older women, a program was developed to help them improve existing friendships or develo p new friendships. In a pilot study thirty-true participants in the program 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 repre sentative sample. Both groups were very lonely initially and demonstrated a significant reduction in loneliness a year later. However more women in th e friendship course were successful in reducing their loneliness; these wom en had developed new friendships of varying degrees of closeness and had in creased the complexity of their friendship networks. These changes are sign ificantly related to the decline in loneliness. Limitations of the research design and suggestions for future studies on the friendship program are pr esented in the discussion.