Loneliness and social isolation are common problems after acquired brain injury. Qualitative and quantitative research design was used to find out more about social relations and loneliness in people with acquired brain injury in Slovenia. For quantitative research design three scales were used: UCLA-R Loneliness scale, The Big Five Inventory and Social Support Questionnaire - Short form. Semi-structured interview was used for data collection in qualitative part of the research. Our sample consisted of 51 subjects with brain injury and 53 healthy subjects. Participants with acquired brain injury were lonelier and had smaller social networks than healthy controls. There was significant correlation between loneliness and satisfaction with social support and between loneliness and size of social network, latter was significant only in the sample of people with acquired brain injury. The correlation between loneliness and neuroticism and loneliness and extraversion was also significant in the sample of people with acquired brain injury. In the control group only correlation between loneliness and extraversion was significant. In the qualitative part of the research, it was additionally shown that people with acquired brain injury feel supported by their family and reduced circle of friends. They adjust their view of social relations and participate in different kinds of social activities as a way of reaching satisfaction with their social life. Even though they perceive decline in number of friends, they don't report extensive feelings of loneliness, as they have developed strategies that help them cope with loneliness. Our results are mainly consistent with past research and are a good starting point for further research on the subject of social relations in population of people with acquired brain injury.
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