‘People haven’t got that close connection’: meanings of loneliness and social isolation to culturally diverse older people

Abstract

Objectives: Social isolation and loneliness among older people are known to have negative effects on health and wellbeing. Few studies, however, have enabled older people to define these concepts in their own terms. This paper based on research in Aotearoa, New Zealand is the first to comparatively outline the meanings of loneliness and social isolation from the perspective of four ethnically diverse groups of older adults (Māori, Pacific, Asian, and NZ European).

Method: We interviewed 44 older people and conducted three focus groups with 32 older people. We used thematic and narrative analyses.

Results: Loneliness and social isolation were conceptualized as interconnected concepts described as a ‘look and feel’, a ‘state of mind’ and as a ‘lack of desired companionship’. Participants conveyed sophisticated understandings of the structural underpinnings of both loneliness and social isolation as multi-dimensional, complex, and situated.

Conclusions: Older people describe complex and culturally- nuanced understanding and experience of social isolation and loneliness. More culturally appropriate services, greater mental-health support and more service provision on weekends and evenings are needed.

Keywords:

• Loneliness
• social isolation
• understanding
• experience
• older adults
• multicultural

Acknowledgements

We would like thank our participants for their generosity of their time and insights. We thank Clare Gardiner, Louise Rees, Judith Davey, and Robyn Dixon for their support. We thank the various organisations who supported this research including: Age Concern, Salvation Army, Treasured Older Adults, Waitemata and Counties Manukau NASC teams. We thank the Te Arai Palliative and End of Life Care Advisory Roopu for their guidance and active support. Thank you to Anne Koh, Emma Moselen, and Jinglin Lin who helped with interviews and Jing Xu who helped with translation.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

Ethics approval was attained from the University of Auckland Human Participants Ethics Committee in April 2016 (016593).

Declaration of contribution of authors

All authors have been involved in data analysis as well as collecting data, and writing and revising the resulting manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by funding from the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovative and Employment’s Ageing Well National Science Challenge Fund. Social Isolation, 12815/1, SUB1302