Daily interactions with friends—even something as simple as a text message—may reduce feelings of loneliness for people who take care of a family member with dementia.

Why Is This Important?

Taking care of a loved one with dementia can be very difficult. Caregivers can feel especially lonely. But social interactions with friends and other family members, no matter how small, can lower feelings of loneliness.

What Did the Study Find?

Crystal Ng, a research fellow at the University of Michigan, and her colleagues studied 223 dementia caregivers. The caregivers reported their social interactions and loneliness every three hours over five days.

The study, published in the Journal of Gerontology, showed that when caregivers interacted with friends, they also reported lower levels of loneliness.

“We found that caregivers reported having interactions with friends in more than 20% of their waking survey prompts,” Ng said. “And these interactions, particularly positive ones, even with not-so-close friends, are related to lower momentary loneliness in daily life.”

Who Benefits Most?

The effect was especially strong among caregivers with particularly difficult care responsibilities, called “high-burden” caregivers.

“Interacting with friends appears to be particularly important for high-burden caregivers,” Ng said. “That could be the case because higher-burden caregivers are more at risk of being socially isolated and feeling lonely.”

Why Is This Study Different?

Previous studies asked caregivers to rate their loneliness over a past period, like a week or a month. But this study took a more in-the-moment approach, which gives a more dynamic and accurate picture.

“This study captured the dynamic fluctuations of loneliness,” Ng said. “We are not treating loneliness as a personality trait, but as something that changes throughout the day.”

What Can Caregivers Do?

“Sending a text to a friend or making the time to get in touch with them can make caregivers feel less lonely and create a sense of connection amid the burden of dementia,” Ng explained.

Interventions that encourage caregivers to schedule social interactions with friends in daily life can give them a much-needed emotional lift.