A social sciences professor has urged the government to provide volunteering opportunities and peer support for elderly people, to alleviate feelings of loneliness and enhance well-being.

Chou Kee-lee, from the Education University, and other experts carried out a study during the pandemic in which people from their 50s to their 70s who reported feeling lonely were recruited to provide volunteer phone check-in services for a group of low-income people aged 65 and above.

The researchers said that both groups of people later reported feeling reduced levels of loneliness.

"Volunteering has a very high potential to deliver effective psychological interventions like mindfulness and behavioural activation. We think those interventions could [build] skills and [are] cost-effective," Chou said.

He added that 30 to 40 percent of elderly people experience loneliness.

"The harmful effects of loneliness are comparable to smoking cigarettes and that would be linked to longer hospital stays and earlier residential stays among older adults, so it would definitely increase the healthcare costs in Hong Kong in the long run," he said.

Chou also said that community centres help elderly people socialise, but some find the facilities difficult to get to and home-friendly services similar to the phone check-ins would also be beneficial.