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When Christchurch school student Bill Li volunteered in an aged-care home, he noticed some residents went days or weeks without visitors.
He wondered: Are they lonely?
He's now completed a study into rates of loneliness among those in long-term care - drawing on anonymised data collected as part of an assessment for anyone living in public aged residential care.
His findings? Younger residents - those aged between 65 and 85 - tend to report being lonely, but overall rates of loneliness are declining.
Women were more likely to report being lonely, as were Europeans, compared to those who are Māori and Pasifika.
He presented his findings last week to the interRAI Research Network Knowledge Exchange held in New Zealand, and his paper is under peer review with the Australasian Journal on Ageing
