[Evaluation of the nursing diagnosis "social isolation" and the use of evidence-based nursing]

In home nursing care, professionally qualified personnel have to make many decisions based on the best available evidence. The systematic review "social isolation" was carried out to evaluate the nursing diagnosis as used by the home care provider Red Cross Austria. It was examined if the interventions of the diagnosis "social isolation" were based on scientific evidence. The interventions reviewed were exclusively for home care clients. "Evidence Based Nursing" was used as the scientific approach. Individual interventions of the selected diagnosis's were compared to the Nursing Interventions Classification (NIC) to get standardized English search terms. The 10 selected research papers showed that social isolation is a growing problem for people being cared for at home. According to the scientific literature it can be recommended that a number of multi variant initiatives should be initiated either as a prophylactic or specific intervention. The use of appropriate assessment instruments should lead to effective interventions. Furthermore, in cases of particular need a tailor-made group solution can be helpful. One new aspect that surfaces in the literature is the social isolation of the relatives of the person in care. The social isolation of the relatives in turn has a strong influence on the person in care and nursing care personnel should include this in the intervention plan. Home care nursing personnel play a key role in identifying social isolation and taking the first initiatives to resolve the problem.