Loneliness and conflicts in hospitals: An outlook from the field of social work, the ethics of care and the discharge planning for dependent elderly people

Abstract

Hospitals are places where the precariousness of social ties can turn into loneliness, especially in those moments in which a (greater) need for social care cannot be satisfied. This paper presents the results of a qualitative study that has used the techniques of the systematisation of experiences and in-depth interviews with professionals in medicine, nursing and social work from different geriatric hospital services. The purpose has been to reflect on the family model of care as a producer of loneliness in elderly people in a situation of dependency, as well as on the multiple and varied conflicts that this loneliness generates in the planning processes of hospital discharge. The role of social work is identified as essential to overcome the lack of care that underlies the phenomenological manifestations of these kinds of loneliness. The main conclusions reached are added to other voices that have already urged the need to (re)think our care model, as the current one is not only obsolete and insufficient, but has been built on the (re)creation of inequalities.