Assessment of Loneliness/social isolation: The Friendship Scale (FS) [24] is an instrument which assesses aspects of both perceived social isolation and loneliness. It consists of 6-items with three of the items covering the feelings of loneliness and the other three items probing the importance of actual social contacts. Responses are categorized into 5 levels of perceived social isolation (Almost always/Most of the time/About half the time/Occasionally/Not at all). A total score is derived from the summation of item responses (items 1, 3 and 6 are reversed prior to scoring). A score of ‘0’ indicates complete social isolation and a score of ‘24’ indicates high social connectedness