Research has shown that loneliness has a significant impact on a person’s physical, cognitive, and mental health, including a 26% increased risk of premature death (similar to smoking 15 cigarettes a day).
Loneliness has also been linked to a 32% increased risk of stroke, a 29% increased risk of coronary heart disease, high cholesterol and blood pressure, and an increased risk of depression.
Despite these risks, many healthcare providers, including pharmacists, lack sufficient knowledge about the connection between loneliness and health outcomes.
Pharmacists are often the key, or only, primary care contact for many people, and perfectly positioned to identify customers displaying the characteristics of social isolation or experiencing loneliness.
Teaching pharmacy staff how to identify and support people who are lonely is an early intervention or prevention approach to addressing the risk factors for many chronic conditions.
To address this, The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA) is delivering an accredited, evidence-based training program designed to empower pharmacists and pharmacy staff to proactively address loneliness – a key driver of poor health outcomes, medication misuse, and adverse health behaviours.
Through this initiative, community pharmacy teams will be equipped with the skills to identify, understand, and respond to loneliness in the community and strengthen early interventions, by embedding loneliness awareness and response strategies into everyday pharmacy practice.
By supporting staff in community pharmacies across the Healthy North Coast footprint to become local health connectors and champions of social wellbeing, the program aims to reduce the impact of loneliness on chronic disease management, medication adherence, and patient engagement.
Learn more about the loneliness training for pharmacists.
