How compassionate is your neighborhood? Results of a cross-sectional survey on neighborhood participation regarding serious illness, death, and loss

Figures & data

Figure 1. Simplified Directed Acyclic Graph of perceived neighborhood social cohesion and neighborhood participation regarding serious illness, death, and loss.

Table 1. Characteristics of the study population per neighborhood.

	Neighborhood S N = 416 (59.1%)	Neighborhood H N = 288 (40.9%)	Total N = 704
Age: Mean = 63.19, SD = 2.02
18-24	30 (7.2)	11 (3.8)	41 (5.8)
25-49	80 (19.2)	68 (23.8)	148 (21.1)
50-64	109 (26.2)	82 (28.7)	191 (27.2)
65-79	112 (26.9)	81 (28.3)	193 (27.5)
80 (+)	85 (20.4)	44 (15.4)	129 (18.4)
Sex
Female	210 (50.7)	163 (57.8)	373 (53.6)
Male	204 (49.0)	119 (42.2)	323 (46.4)
Living situation
Living alone	131 (31.8)	70 (24.6)	201 (28.8)
Living together with my partner	62 (15.0)	59 (20.7)	121 (17.4)
Living together with my child(ren)	31 (7.5)	22 (7.7)	53 (7.6)
Living together with my partner and child(ren)	153 (37.1)	104 (36.5)	257 (36.9)
I live with my parents	30 (7.3)	16 (5.6)	46 (6.6)
I live with other roommates	5 (1.2)	14 (4.9)	19 (2.7)
Highest degree
Primary school	45 (11.0)	37 (13.3)	82 (11.9)
Lower secondary school	103 (25.2)	50 (17.9)	153 (22.3)
Higher secondary school	136 (33.3)	104 (37.3)	240 (34.9)
University College	86 (21.1)	58 (20.8)	144 (21.0)
University	38 (9.3)	30 (10.8)	68 (9.9)

Note. Missing values = age (0.3%), sex (1.1%), living situation (1.0%), degree (2.4%).

Table 2. The degree to which citizens in two neighborhoods in Flanders engage in neighborhood participation regarding serious illness, death or loss.

		Neighborhood S (n = 416)			Neighborhood H (n = 288)			Total (n = 704)
		Not active N (%)	Seldom or Sometimes active N (%)	More active N (%)	Not active N (%)	Seldom or Sometimes active N (%)	More active N (%)	Not active N (%)	Seldom or Sometimes active N (%)	More active N (%)
1.	Do you help in a neighborhood group as a volunteer to support ill people, caregivers or people who have lost someone?	361 (90.3)	34 (8.4)	5 (1.4)	253 (89.1)	24 (8.5)	7 (2.4)	614 (89.8)	58 (8.5)	12 (1.8)
2.	Have you attended an event in your neighborhood around illness, caregiving, or loss in the six months before corona started (e.g., benefit action to raise money) ?	384 (96.6)	12 (3.0)	2 (0.5)	264 (95.8)	11 (4.2)	0 (0)	648 (96.2)	23 (3.5)	2 (0.3)
3.	Are you an active member of an organization or club in your neighborhood that did something around illness, caregiving, or loss (e.g., memorial for someone who has died)?	391 (98.2)	5 (1.2)	3 (0.7)	226 (98.1)	3 (1.2)	2 (0.7)	616 (98.1)	7 (1.2)	4 (0.7)
4.	In the past 3 years, have you ever been involved in a local-community initiative around illness, caregiving, or loss in your neighborhood (e.g., a bereavement group)?	378 (94.8)	17 (4.4)	3 (0.8)	256 (92.9)	19 (6.9)	1 (0.2)	634 (94.0)	36 (5.4)	4 (0.6)
5.	Have you ever been part of a project to organize a new service in your neighborhood for ill people, dying people or people with a loss experience?	359 (95.0)	16 (4.2)	3 (0.8)	245 (91.7)	20 (7.6)	2 (0.7)	603 (93.6)	36 (5.6)	5 (0.8)
6.	Are you a member of a digital neighborhood group on social media that does something for ill people, caregivers, or people with loss experience?	350 (90.0)	35 (9.0)	4 (1.0)	261 (95.5)	12 (4.1)	1 (0.4)	611 (92.2)	46 (7.0)	5 (0.7)
7.	Did you help a neighbor (that lives next to you) who was ill or needed help?	274 (68.3)	102 (25.4)	25 (6.3)	182 (66.4)	81 (29.7)	11 (3.9)	456 (67.5)	183 (27.1)	36 (5.3)
8.	Did you help someone in your neighborhood who was ill or needed help?	281 (69.6)	96 (23.8)	27 (6.6)	167 (64.9)	77 (30.2)	13 (4.9)	448 (67.7)	174 (26.3)	39 (5.9)
	At least one of the above activities	230 (58.2)	116 (29.4)	49 (12.4)	153 (56.7)	89 (33.0)	28 (10.4)	38 (57.6)	205 (30.8)	77 (11.6)

Note. Missing values items 1-8: 2.9%; 4.3%; 10.8%; 4.2%; 8.5%; 5.8%; 4.1%; 6.0%; 5.5%.

Table 3. Hierarchical linear regression testing the assumed associations for neighborhood participation around serious illness, death, and loss.

	Dependent variable: general neighborhood part			Dependent variable: neighborhood participation regarding serious illness, death, and loss
				Step 1			Step 2			Step 3
	Adjusted R^2 = 0.028			Adjusted R^2 = 0.040			Adjusted R^2 = 0.098			Adjusted R^2 = 0.131
Correlates	β (95% IC)	t-value	sr^2	β (95% IC)	t-value	sr^2	β (95% IC)	t-value	sr^2	β (95% IC)	t-value	sr^2
IV = Perceived neighborhood social cohesion	0.171*** (0.032-0.083)	4.437	1.3%	0.204*** (0.027-0.061)	5.201	0.8%	0. 128** (0.009-0.047)	2.843	1%	0.100* (0.003-0.040)	2.258	1%
CON = Education (higher education)							0.161** (0.174-0.518)	3.959	8.7%	0.118 (0.088-0.420)	3.009	8.5%
CON = Experiences caring, dying, loss							0.166*** (0.211-0.611)	4.191	9.9%	0.158*** (0.204-0.586)	4.063	9.7%
CON = Perceived help from neighbors							0.142** (0.012-0.050)	3.198	1%	0.134** (0.011-0.048)	3.094	0.9%
CON = Women							−0.020 (-0.483-0.286)	−0.501	19.6%
MED = General neighborhood participation										0.186*** (0.069-0.169)	4.706	2.5%
Total mediating effect	0.171 × 0,186 = 0.032
Sobel test	z = 3.228**

Notes. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001; IV = Independent variable, CON = confounding variable, MED = mediating variable.

Data availability

The data set and data syntax can be provided by contacting the corresponding author.