RISK FOR LONELINESS Nursing Care Plan

All of us experienced loneliness, but we have different reasons why we are lonely. Some kids are lonely because their parent left them to work on other country to make more money. Some people are lonely because they suddenly lost their job. Some are lonely because they are not loved by the people they love. Some people are lonely because they lost in competition. Some experience loneliness because someone they love had died. How about you? What is the reason of your loneliness? Are you still lonely? How did you overcome your loneliness? I will tell you a story about Ms. Hontanti, a 39 years old senator who had a dramatic increase in body mass that most of her friends can't easily recognize her. Her tummy bloats out, her legs turned big, her arms and chest expanded, her chin doubled, her cheeks enlarged, everything turns so fat. As days past, Ms. Hontanti doesn't want what is happening to her. Her friends don't want to be with her anymore, no one wants to talk to her, everyone is teasing and bullying her. Ms. Hontanti started to eat alone, shop alone, almost all alone and she started to stay away from people specially to her friends and colleagues. Below is a sample of nursing care plan of Ms. Hontani about her risk for lonelinesss.

Assessment:

Subjective: “I'm fat, so fat that no one else wants to be close to me.” as verbalized by the patient.

Objectives:

- Frown face

- Anxious

- Weak

- Lack of appetite

- Increased emotional state

- Obese

- Weight is 200 pounds

- Height is 5 foot and 2 inches tall

Diagnosis:

Risk for loneliness related to fear of rejection secondary to obesity.

Planning:

After 4 hours of nursing intervention, the patient will report decreased feelings of loneliness and will identify the ways to increase meaningful relationships.

Interventions:

- Encourage Ms. Hontanti, the patient to talk about her feelings of loneliness and their causes and encourage development of a support system. Collaborate with her existing family, friends, and neighbors to form one. Although her friends are one of the contributing factor of her loneliness, we need some of her friends to/who understand her situation to help the support system. Discuss her the importance of high-quality, rather than high-quantity socialization. Provide Ms. Hontanti some ideas to deal with her social concerns like volunteering for something she likes and be surrounded with the other volunteers that she shares common interest and they all focus on one common goal. Encourage the patient to activity clubs and other activities. Tell the patient to focus on her  building one or two close friendships. Knowing that she have a couple of true friends who are always there for her can help her to deal with life's ups and down. Encourage Ms. Hontanti to tell others how she feels especially when she feels pressured or misunderstood by friends or family. Encourage the patient to write journal that gives positive statements about herself. Explain to the patient that letting her emotions to take over will only make things worst, crying and getting angry will only leads to loneliness and out of control.

- Refer Ms. Hontanti to impaired social interactions and prepare her for ambivalent feelings and short-term negative effects on her self-esteem. Refer the patient to a dietitian to help her  with meal planning, weight-loss, nutrition and her appropriate exercises.

Evaluation:

After 4 hours of nursing intervention, the patient reported decreased feelings of loneliness and identified the ways to increase meaningful relationships.

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There are other reasons that may lead to risk for loneliness such as loss of a significant person and the nursing intervention will be different from above. Remember that nursing interventions must lead to achieving your plan or goal. Other related diagnoses are Anxiety and Hopelessness. For more samples of nursing care plan you are free to check it out in our NCP LIST page.