Do Words Matter? Detecting Social Isolation and Loneliness in Older Adults Using Natural Language Processing.

ABSTRACT: Introduction: Social isolation and loneliness (SI/L) are growing problems with serious health implications for older adults, especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. We examined transcripts from semi-structured interviews with 97 older adults (mean age 83 years) to identify linguistic features of SI/L. Methods: Natural Language Processing (NLP) methods were used to identify relevant interview segments (responses to specific questions), extract the type and number of social contacts and linguistic features such as sentiment, parts-of-speech, and syntactic complexity. We examined: (1) associations of NLP-derived assessments of social relationships and linguistic features with validated self-report assessments of social support and loneliness; and (2) important linguistic f

SUBMITTER: Badal VD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8635064 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature