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Updated: May 21, 2026

Oral Health Assessment by Lay Personnel for Older Adults
Published on: February 2, 2020
Loneliness and self-reported health among older persons in New Zealand
Steven La Grow1, Stephen Neville, Fiona Alpass
1School of Health and Social Services, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand. s.j.lagrow@massey.ac.nz
Aim:
The purpose of this study was to identify the rate, degree and impact of loneliness in a sample of 332 older community-dwelling New Zealanders.
Methods:
A cross-sectional survey was used to collect self-reported data on loneliness, physical and mental health, age, sex and marital status. Eight per cent of the sample was found to be severely lonely, 44% moderately lonely and 48% not lonely. Participants were assigned to three groups by level of loneliness and compared on age, sex, marital status and health.
Results:
The groups were found to differ on physical (F [2,329] = 5.3, P = 0.006) and mental health (F [2,329] = 13.7, P < 0.001) but not on age, sex or marital status.
Conclusions:
Those who were in the severely and moderately lonely groups scored lower on both health measures than those in the not lonely group.
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