Auckland University research into loneliness has just been made into an animated short film.
The research, by Professor of Health Sciences Dr Merryn Gott, found significant loneliness and social isolation among the elderly affecting both physical and mental health. She says we need a public health campaign focusing on loneliness, in the same vein as recent campaigns on depression.
Watch the film:
Dr Gott hopes the film, Elder Birdsong, will help encourage social connection.
She and her team spoke to 76 older New Zealanders from different cultural groups in doing the research.
“What was really striking was the significant impact [loneliness] had on them. A lot of them cried during the interview, they used very evocative language," Dr Gott says.
“One of them talked about loneliness as being locked in a dark place. It was very personally affecting, but on the other end, it’s also important to say they showed remarkable resilience. They were very keen to not be shown as victims, they actually worked really hard to try and remain socially connected. It’s just that many of the ways that they could remain socially connected were beyond their control.
“People talked about the health problems they might experience, hearing and sight problems that made it difficult to connect socially.
“Particularly for our Chinese and Korean participants, they talked about issues of racism and how their experiences and perceptions of racism made them feel like they weren’t welcome in New Zealand.”
The problem of loneliness, particularly in older people, is beginning to be more widely recognised. In the UK, there has been a big campaign to end loneliness and even a Minister for Loneliness appointed. Locally, Age Concern are leading a new campaign to tackle loneliness but Dr Gott says they are struggling with money.
“We need to take it seriously, we need to understand that it’s a significant public health issue that costs us personally and societally, both emotionally and economically.”
Dr Gott says possible solutions include having kindergartens near aged care facilities.
“There’s a lot of evidence emerging which suggests these sorts of intergenerational initiatives can really make a difference. What the older people we spoke to really talked about is wanting to feel like they could make a contribution. They have so much to offer, but often just don’t have the opportunity to do that.
“We need to think about tackling loneliness across generations, we don’t just single out one age group because that can further stigmatise loneliness. We found that stigma was something that really exacerbated feelings of loneliness and actually stopped them seeking any help. They felt embarrassed and ashamed that they didn’t have any friends.
“They found it very difficult to even talk about that. We had to be very careful in the way that we even talked about loneliness. We did little videos and people were very reluctant to be shown on screen talking about loneliness because they often felt this might reflect badly on their family who are doing their best but for reasons beyond their control - work, living away etc - couldn’t see their older relative as much as they wanted to.
“There was this real feeling of shame and embarrassment, and it stopped people - for example - from engaging with services like Age Concern. Some people were just too embarrassed to even make the step to contact a service like that.”
She says she hopes the film will make people think about their own roles and responsibilities - what they can do within their communities
“We hope it will be a light-hearted way in to what is a really serious health issue."
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