Loneliness and Health in Nurses: Scoping Review

Abstract

Purpose: This study was a scoping review designed to identify research trends in loneliness and health targeting for domestic and foreign nurses. Methods: The methodological framework was based on a previous work by Arksey and O’Malley. The studies reviewed were found through electronic databases, such as RISS, PubMed, and CINAHL. The period of the data was from January 2000 to December 2021. Results: The 6 studies were reviewed. The loneliness of nurses was found to be experienced when the frequency of social interaction with leaders and colleagues was low, when missing camaraderie and sense of belonging, when work felt meaningless, and when social support level was low. Additionally, loneliness raised levels of depression, anxiety, and stress level while lowered well-being level, and that was shown to have harmful effects for health, such as burnout and fatigue. Also, it was found that loneliness lowered nurses’ job satisfaction and increased their turnover rate. Conclusion: Further development of nurses’ loneliness management program is needed. Also, it is suggested that the additional studies to verify causal relationship and mechanism between loneliness and health are required.