Mirjam Kingma, Tineke Fokkema, Bianca Suanet and Basak Bilecen have recently published the first paper from the PROMISE project titled: “Social network elements in loneliness interventions for older migrants: Insights from intervention documents and trainers”.
In this study, the researchers analysed which social network elements contribute to reducing loneliness and how they are currently integrated into Dutch interventions. Based on a literature review, the authors concluded that network quality and expectation management are particularly important in combating loneliness among older migrants, rather than network size.
Through content analysis of intervention documents and interviews with trainers, we find that the quality and expectations of social relationships are included in the analysed intervention documents. However, the findings show that socially sensitive topics, such as the quality of relationships, remain difficult to address within intervention groups. Therefore, the authors suggest combining group and individual formats to better facilitate discussions on these sensitive topics.
The authors are grateful to the interviewed trainers who helped make this paper possible!
The article is fully open access. You can read the paper using this link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378873326000584