Combatting Loneliness: The Ethical Implications for Society

“A guy needs somebody to be near him. A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. Don’t make no difference who the guy is, long’s he’s with you. I tell ya, a guy gets lonely an’ he gets sick.” John Steinbeck 1937 There is a high risk of societal problems associated with loneliness within Europe. Europe is seeing unprecedented growth in the ageing population along with an influx of migrants. This paper explores this issue from the perspective of the ethical component of society to address this issue. There is an epidemic of loneliness sweeping across Europe. The aim of this scoping review is an attempt to discuss how loneliness can impact on physical, cognitive and emotional health across the lifespan. It is not an exhaustive review. The objective is an attempt to reflect how as a society the epidemic of loneliness has crept in without adequate policies and procedures put in place by Governments to combat this 21st century phenomenon. Methodology utilized a scoping review of the literature in relation to loneliness. It explores the connection of loneliness with a decrease in physical and mental health for citizens. Searches were undertaken in two stages to identify:(1) measures of loneliness from review articles and grey literature and (2) studies reporting on loneliness, using the following databases and search strategy. Databases searches: SocIndex, CINAHL and Academic Search Premier (EBSCO): Health Research Premier (ProQuest) Search strategy for concept, loneliness in Ireland : AB (Child* OR infant OR Teen* OR Youth OR “Young adult*” OR Adolescen* OR “Middle age*” OR midlife OR mature OR adult OR Elder OR senior OR aged OR geriatric OR “Aged, 80 and over” OR Lifespan OR “life time”) AND AB (loneliness OR “social isolation” OR solitar* OR aloneness OR Reclusiv*) AND AB ( Ireland OR Irish); Limiters - Publication Date: 20050101-20241231; Results: SocIndex, CINAHL and Academic Search Premier: 160 articles Health Research Premier: 215 articles. Search Strategy for concept, loneliness in Europe : AB ( Child* OR infant OR Teen* OR Youth OR “Young adult*” OR Adolescen* OR “Middle age*” OR midlife OR mature OR adult OR Elder OR senior OR aged OR geriatric OR “Aged, 80 and over” OR Lifespan OR “life time”) AND AB (loneliness OR “social isolation” OR solitar* OR aloneness OR Reclusiv*) AND AB (Europ* OR EU); Limiters - Publication Date: 20050101-20241231; Results: SocIndex, CINAHL and Academic Search Premier: 617 articles Health Research Premier: 769 articles. Conclusion Loneliness is growing throughout our communities especially in Western Society. Empowerment of individuals especially the older person is essential to ensure that loneliness is eliminated and if not reduced considerably, as to not address it could be a determinant to society. It is timely to have an ethical model in place for addressing and combatting loneliness in society. This review will help to understand how important it is to ensure that all members of society get an opportunity to engage with communities so that loneliness can be addressed.