COMBACTING EXISTENTIAL LONELINESS AMONG OLDER PERSONS: A NEW EUROPEAN PROJECT JUST LAUNCHED
Loneliness among older people is a growing issue globally, even if the numbers are difficult to estimate. This is indeed the goal of the ALONE project, funded by the European Union under the Erasmus+ KA2 programme. Loneliness is a complex concept that also involves existential dimensions which runs much deeper than social and physical loneli- ness and is described as an unavoidable condition of humanity. This means that even if other people surround you, you can experien- ce profound loneliness in its existential form. Existential loneliness is often experienced by older persons in association with death, dying or severe illnesses, when questions about the meaning of life come to the fore. That’s why it’s a meaningful and challenging issues for health and social care professio- nals which should be trained to…