Reducing loneliness in older adults: looking at locals and migrants in a Swiss case study

Annahita Ehsan,Dario Spini,Sylvie Guillaume-Boeckle,Danilo Bolano

doi:10.1007/s10433-020-00577-4

Abstract

Older adults are at a high risk for loneliness, and community-based interventions can help reduce loneliness for all older adults in a community, regardless of their migration status. However, little research has investigated how older adults, including locals and migrants (in this case, internal newcomers and international expats) participate in these interventions. The “Neighbourhoods in Solidarity” (NS) are a series of community-based interventions that aim to increase social connectedness and reduce loneliness in older adults (55+) in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland. This longitudinal embedded mixed-methods study aimed to understand whether older adults (distinguishing between locals, newcomers, and expats) were aware of and participated in the NS, to assess whether participation was associated with changes in loneliness, and to identify relevant processes that could explain a reduction in loneliness. We combined a longitudinal pre/post survey (235 respondents) with ethnographic observations and informal interviews. Quantitative findings showed that individuals who participated in the NS did not have significant changes in loneliness. Qualitative findings showed that perceived migration played an important role in who participated, and that the community distinguished between two types of migrants: newcomers who spoke French fluently, and expats who did not. Individuals were only ‘local’ if they had ancestors from the town. Some newcomers and some locals used the NS as a platform to build a new sense of community within the NS, whereas expats rarely participated. This was due to linguistic and cultural determinants, institutional constraints, interpersonal relationships, and personal preferences.

Highlights

Older adults are at an increased risk for loneliness, and loneliness among older adults is an emerging public health problem (Cacioppo and Cacioppo 2018)
The analytic approach Using multivariate regression models, we examined whether groups of older adults who had been living in the town for different proportions of time had different loneliness at baseline, whether these older adults were aware of and participated in the Neighbourhoods in Solidarity” (NS), and if individuals who participated in the NS and replied to the questionnaire experienced a significant change in their loneliness score between waves
Quantitative findings showed that older adults who lived in the town for less than a third of their lives were lonelier than other town residents, and residents who spent over two-thirds of their lives in the town were the least lonely

Summary

Introduction

Older adults are at an increased risk for loneliness, and loneliness among older adults is an emerging public health problem (Cacioppo and Cacioppo 2018). Older migrants are Responsible editor: Marja J. Loneliness refers to the unpleasant experience that occurs when a person feels that their network of relationships is deficient in some important way (Peplau and Perlman 1982). Loneliness has both emotional and social components: Emotional loneliness occurs when an individual feels a deficiency in close emotional relationships, whereas social loneliness occurs when an individual does not have a broader social network, or a sense of belonging to their environment (De Jong Gierveld and Van Tilburg 2006; Dykstra 2009; Weiss 1973). Having a low sense of belonging within a community predicts loneliness in older adults (Prieto-Flores et al 2011)

Results

Discussion

Conclusion