What is it about?
Loneliness is seen as a difficult to define concept but has well-researched connections to a range of health conditions, both mental and physical. This work seeks to quantify loneliness in the United Kingdom by scoring small-areas based on their perceived risk and hence providing a basis for prioritised intervention.
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Why is it important?
Loneliness and social isolation are receiving considerable press attention at present given their links to mental and physical health conditions. Research cited in this paper likens the effects of loneliness to that of alcoholism or smoking 15 cigarettes a day. Thus, being able to identify areas with residents currently experiencing (or likely to experience) loneliness is important as it supports intervention measures and consequently improves quality of life. In turn, this then lesses the burden on social and national health care services.
Perspectives
I hope this article enables people to see how indices can be developed to quantify difficult to define topics, such as loneliness, quality of life, etc. I also hope this work further emphasises the need to tackle often hidden social problems such as loneliness given their wide-ranging impacts. This work proposes a framework whereby anybody can quantify and understand loneliness in their local area and it would be great if people were to attempt this.
Luke Burns
University of Leeds
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Devising a Composite Index to Analyze and Model Loneliness and Related Health Risks in the United Kingdom, Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine, June 2017, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/2333721417714876.
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