Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T05:19:38.548Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Lived Realities of Lonely Older People: Resisting Idealisations of ‘Home’

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 April 2020

Alison Jarvis  and
Andrea Mountain
Alison Jarvis
Affiliation:
Teesside University, E-mail: [email protected]
Andrea Mountain
Affiliation:
Teesside University, E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article is based on research set up to explore temporal dimensions of loneliness amongst older people in a northern town. As the study progressed, spatial considerations and confinements emerged as a related and equally important feature. The article suggests that the ‘social sphere’ of lived reality, especially reality lived out in one confined space, is a prime candidate for what has been termed ‘de-familiarisation’. Social policy discourses focussed on ‘ageing in place’ can sometimes neglect the realities of older people’s circumstances, daily life and social contact. Central arguments put forward in the article are: that loneliness increases as spatial prospects recede; that ‘home’ can become a source of frustration and negativity rather than a source of solace and comfort; and that expanding and facilitating the social horizons of older people currently ‘confined’ to home should be prioritised within a genuinely age-friendly approach to social policy.

Keywords

lonelinessolder agehome
Type
Articles
Information
Social Policy and Society , Volume 20 , Issue 1 , January 2021 , pp. 1 - 16
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aebischer, J. (2008) ‘Loneliness among homebound older adults: implications for home healthcare clinicians’, Home Healthcare Nurse, 26, 9, 521–24.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Age UK (2010) Loneliness and Isolation Evidence Review, https://www.ageuk.org.uk/documents/en-gb/for-professionals/evidence_review_loneliness_and_isolation.pdf?dtrk=true [accessed 02.02.2019].Google Scholar
Age UK (2012) Loneliness – The State We’re In: A Report Compiled for the Campaign to End Loneliness, https://www.campaigntoendloneliness.org.uk [accessed 02.02.2019].Google Scholar
Age UK Oxfordshire (2011) Safeguarding the convoy. A call to action from the Campaign to End Loneliness, Age UK Oxfordshire and the Campaign to End Loneliness, https://www.campaigntoendloneliness.org/wp-content/uploads/Safeguarding-the-Convoy.-A-call-to-action-from-the-Campaign-to-End-Loneliness.pdf [accessed 21.01.2019].Google Scholar
Andersson, L. (1998) ‘Loneliness research and interventions: a review of the literature’, Aging and Mental Health, 2, 4, 264–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Antonucci, T. C. (2001) ‘Social relations: an examination of social networks, social support, and sense of control’, in Birren, J. E. (ed.), Handbook of the Psychology of Aging, 5th edn, San Diego, CA: Academic Press, 427–53.Google Scholar
Barrett, P., Hale, B. and Gauld, R. (2012) ‘Social inclusion through ageing-in-place with care?’, Ageing and Society, 32, 3, 361–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bartlett, H. and Carroll, M. (2011) ‘Ageing in place down under’, Global Ageing, 7, 2, 25-34, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/260145594 [accessed 04.08.2019].Google Scholar
Beach, B. and Bamford, S.M. (2014) Isolation: The Emerging Crisis for Older Men, London: Independent Age.Google Scholar
Bennett, K. M. and Victor, C. (2012) ‘He wasn’t in that chair: what loneliness means to widowed older people’, International Journal of Ageing and Later Life, 7, 1, 33–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cacioppo, J. T., Hawkley, L. C., Crawford, L. E., Ernst, J. M., Burleson, M. H., Kowalewski, R. B., Malarkey, W. B., Van Cauter, E. and Berntson, G. G. (2002) ‘Loneliness and health; potential mechanisms’, Psychosomatic Medicine, 64, 3, 407–54.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cacioppo, J. T. and Hawkley, L. C. (2009) ‘Perceived social isolation and cognition’, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 13, 10, 447–54.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cattan, M., Kime, N. and Bagnall, A. M. (2011) ‘The use of telephone befriending in low level support for socially isolated older people – an evaluation’, Health and Social Care in the Community, 19, 2, 198–206.Google ScholarPubMed
Communities and Local Government Select Committee (CLGSC ) (2018) Housing for Older People: Second Report of Select Committee Session 2017–19, https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmcomloc/370/37002.htm [accessed 20.07.2019].Google Scholar
Courtin, E. and Knapp, M. (2017) ‘Social isolation, loneliness and health in old age: a scoping review’, Health and Social Care in the Community, 25, 3, 799–812.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Department for Digital , Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) (2018) A Connected Society: A Strategy for Tackling Loneliness – Laying the Foundations for Change, London: Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/a-connected-society-a-strategy-for-tackling-loneliness [accessed 05.02.2019].Google Scholar
Dillaway, H. E. and Byrnes, M. (2009) ‘Reconsidering successful aging: a call for renewed and expanded academic critiques and conceptualizations’, Journal of Applied Gerontology, 28, 6, 702–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fiori, K. L., Antonucci, T. C. and Cortina, K. S. (2006) ‘Social network typologies and mental health among older adults’, Journal of Gerontology, 61B, 1, 25–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Friedli, L. (2009) Mental Health, Resilience and Inequalities, Copenhagen: World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe.Google Scholar
Griffin, J. (2010) The Lonely Society, London: Mental Health Foundation.Google Scholar
Hawkley, L. C. and Cacioppo, J. T. (2010) ‘Loneliness matters: a theoretical and empirical review of consequences and mechanisms’, Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 40, 2, 218–27.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jopling, K. (2015) Promising Approaches to Reducing Loneliness and Isolation in Later Life, London: Campaign to End Loneliness and Age UK.Google Scholar
Katz, S. (2013) ‘Active and successful aging. Lifestyle as a gerontological idea’, Recherches Sociologiques et Anthropologiques, 44, 1, 33–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kim, J., LaRose, R. and Peng, W. (2009). ‘Loneliness as the cause and the effect of problematic Internet use: the relationship between internet use and psychological well-being’, Cyber-Psychology and Behavior, 12, 451–55.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mallet, S. (2004) ‘Understanding home: a critical review of the literature’, Sociological Review, 52, 1, 62–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martinson, M. and Berridge, C. (2015) ‘Successful aging and its discontents: a systematic review of the social gerontology literature’, The Gerontologist, 55, 1, 58–69.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ministry of Housing , Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) (2015) English Indices of Deprivation 2015, London: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/english-indices-of-deprivation-2015 [accessed 29.01.2019].Google Scholar
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2018) Loneliness - What Characteristics and Circumstances are Associated with Feeling Lonely?, https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/wellbeing/articles/lonelinesswhatcharacteristicsandcircumstancesareassociatedwithfeelinglonely/2018-04-10 [accessed 29.01.2019].Google Scholar
Patterson, I. and Carpenter, G. (1994) ‘Participation in leisure activities after the death of a spouse’, Leisure Sciences, 16, 2, 105–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Savikko, N., Routasalo, P., Tilvis, R. S., Strandberg, T. E. and Pitkälä, K. H. (2005) ‘Predictors and subjective causes of loneliness in an aged population’, Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, 41, 3, 223–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shankar, A., McMunn, A., Demakakos, P., Hamer, M. and Steptoe, A. (2016) ‘Social isolation and loneliness: associations with functional status in older adults’, Health Psychology, 36, 2, 179–87.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sixsmith, A. and Sixsmith, J. (2008) ‘Ageing in place in the United Kingdom’, Ageing International, 32, 3, 219–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, D. (1987) The Everyday World as Problematic: A Feminist Sociology, Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Smith, J. (2012) ‘Loneliness in older adults: an embodied experience’, Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 38, 8, 45–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vasara, P. (2015) ‘Not ageing in place: negotiating meanings of residency in age-related housing’, Journal of Aging Studies, 35, 55–64.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vasileiou, K., Barnett, J., Barreto, M., Vines, J., Atkinson, M., Lawson, S. and Wilson, M. (2017) ‘Experiences of loneliness associated with being an informal caregiver: a qualitative investigation’, Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 1–11.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Victor, C., Scrambler, S., Bond, J. and Bowling, A. (2000) ‘Being alone in later life: loneliness, social isolation and living alone’, Reviews in Clinical Gerontology, 10, 4, 407–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Victor, C., Scrambler, S. J., Bowling, A. and Bond, J. (2005) ‘The prevalence of, and risk factors for, loneliness in later life: a survey of older people in Great Britain’, Ageing Society, 25, 357–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Victor, C., Scrambler, S. and Bond, J. (2009) The Social World of Older People: Understanding Loneliness and Social Isolation in Later Life, Maidenhead: Open University Press.Google Scholar
Victor, C. (2012) What Do You Expect at Your age? Loneliness and Old Age, [PowerPoint Presentation], https://www.campaigntoendloneliness.org/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2012/07/Victor-Loneliness-Plenary-July2012.pdf [accessed 13.02.2019].Google Scholar
Wenger, G. C. (1996) ‘Social networks and gerontology’, Reviews in Clinical Gerontology, 6, 285–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wenger, G. C. (1997) ‘Social networks and the prediction of elderly people at risk’, Aging and Mental Health, 1, 311–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Windle, K., Francis, J. and Coomber, C. (2011) Preventing Loneliness and Social Isolation: Interventions and Outcomes, Research Briefing 39, London: Social Care Institute for Excellence.Google Scholar
Wiles, J., Leibling, A., Guberman, N., Reeve, J. and Allen, R. (2011) ‘The meaning of “Aging in Place” to older people’, The Gerontologist, 52, 3, 357–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar