UCL Discovery
UCL home » Library Services » Electronic resources » UCL Discovery

The impact of living in housing with care and support on loneliness and social isolation: Findings from a resident-based survey

Beach, Brian; Willis, Paul; Powell, Jillian; Vickery, Alex; Smith, Randall; Cameron, Ailsa; Johnson, Eleanor; (2022) The impact of living in housing with care and support on loneliness and social isolation: Findings from a resident-based survey. Innovation in Aging , Article igac061. 10.1093/geroni/igac061. Green open access

[thumbnail of Beach_The impact of living in housing with care and support on loneliness and social isolation_AAM.pdf]
Preview
Text
Beach_The impact of living in housing with care and support on loneliness and social isolation_AAM.pdf - Accepted Version

Download (827kB) | Preview

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Housing with care is often lauded as a way to combat loneliness and social isolation in later life. This study examined whether housing with care created better outcomes for residents in terms of loneliness and social isolation than they might expect if they were living in the community. / Research Design and Methods: A survey was distributed to residents of housing with care as part of the Diversity in Care Environments project. It was designed to enable comparison with the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. Propensity score matching was applied to identify the effect of housing with care residence on loneliness and social isolation. / Results: People living in housing with care had lower levels of loneliness than would be expected if they lived in the general community, with an average treatment effect on the treated (ATT) of -0.407 (95% CI=-0.601, -0.214). In contrast, social isolation was found to be slightly higher for residents than would be expected if they were in the community (ATT=0.134 [95% CI=0.022, 0.247]). Higher social isolation appears driven by less frequent contact with friends and reduced organizational membership rather than any difference in contact with family and children. / Discussion and Implications: Our research has shown a positive impact on subjective social experiences from housing with care residence, despite a slight increase in objective social isolation. The findings underscore the importance of looking at loneliness and social isolation as distinct concepts as well as the effectiveness of housing with care at improving later life outcomes.

Type: Article
Title: The impact of living in housing with care and support on loneliness and social isolation: Findings from a resident-based survey
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1093/geroni/igac061
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igac061
Language: English
Additional information: This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America.
Keywords: Loneliness, social isolation, housing with care, propensity score matching, inclusive communities, social connections
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health > Epidemiology and Public Health
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10157558
Downloads since deposit
26Downloads
Download activity - last month
Download activity - last 12 months
Downloads by country - last 12 months

Archive Staff Only

View Item View Item