Associations between nurse–patient interaction and loneliness among cognitively intact nursing home residents – a questionnaire survey

•Loneliness is common among cognitively intact nursing home residents.•Nurse–patient interaction is associated with loneliness among cognitively intact nursing home residents.•Nurse–patient interaction might be an important resource for residents’ loneliness. Nursing home (NH) residents risk loneliness because of many losses. Nurse–patient interaction includes core aspects contributing to thriving and well-being among long-term NH residents. We performed a cross-sectional observation study of 188 residents 65 years and older from 27 NHs with ≥3 months’ residence. All had informed consent competence recognized by the responsible doctor and nurse and could converse. We asked “Do you sometimes feel lonely?” and used the Nurse–Patient Interaction Scale (NPIS) in face-to-face interviews. We identified associations between nurse–patient interaction and loneliness and investigated the prevalence of loneliness. Eighty-eight (47%) respondents reported loneliness often or sometimes and 100 (53%) rarely or never. Adjusted for sex and age, 10 of the 14 NPIS items were significantly correlated with loneliness. Loneliness is common among cognitively intact NH residents. Nurse–patient interaction associates with residents’ loneliness and might be important in alleviating loneliness.