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Maintenance and Development of Social Connection by People with Long-term Conditions: A Qualitative Study

Social connection is important for people’s health and well-being. Social isolation arising from a lack of meaningful connection with others can result in deterioration of well-being with negative consequences for health. For people living with multiple long-term conditions, the building and maintai...

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Autores principales: Wilkinson, Amanda, Bowen, Lucy, Gustavsson, Elias, Håkansson, Simon, Littleton, Nicole, McCormick, James, Thompson, Michelle, Mulligan, Hilda
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6603716/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31141893
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16111875
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author Wilkinson, Amanda
Bowen, Lucy
Gustavsson, Elias
Håkansson, Simon
Littleton, Nicole
McCormick, James
Thompson, Michelle
Mulligan, Hilda
author_facet Wilkinson, Amanda
Bowen, Lucy
Gustavsson, Elias
Håkansson, Simon
Littleton, Nicole
McCormick, James
Thompson, Michelle
Mulligan, Hilda
author_sort Wilkinson, Amanda
collection PubMed
description Social connection is important for people’s health and well-being. Social isolation arising from a lack of meaningful connection with others can result in deterioration of well-being with negative consequences for health. For people living with multiple long-term conditions, the building and maintaining of social connection may be challenging. The aim of this study was to explore with people with long-term conditions how they perceive they maintain and develop social connections. We undertook semi-structured interviews with seventeen adults, and analyzed the data for themes. Themes were “Meaningful connection”, “Wherewithal for social connection” and “Impact of a major change in life course”. The findings suggest that social connection is valued, and facilitates meaningful ways to reciprocate support with others, thus enabling access to knowledge and resources for better health and well-being. However, people with long-term conditions can experience challenges to developing and maintaining social connectedness after a major change in life course. We suggest that healthcare providers are well placed to facilitate ways for people with long-term conditions to socially connect with others in their neighbourhood and community, and that this in particular be attended to after a major life change.
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spelling pubmed-66037162019-07-17 Maintenance and Development of Social Connection by People with Long-term Conditions: A Qualitative Study Wilkinson, Amanda Bowen, Lucy Gustavsson, Elias Håkansson, Simon Littleton, Nicole McCormick, James Thompson, Michelle Mulligan, Hilda Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Social connection is important for people’s health and well-being. Social isolation arising from a lack of meaningful connection with others can result in deterioration of well-being with negative consequences for health. For people living with multiple long-term conditions, the building and maintaining of social connection may be challenging. The aim of this study was to explore with people with long-term conditions how they perceive they maintain and develop social connections. We undertook semi-structured interviews with seventeen adults, and analyzed the data for themes. Themes were “Meaningful connection”, “Wherewithal for social connection” and “Impact of a major change in life course”. The findings suggest that social connection is valued, and facilitates meaningful ways to reciprocate support with others, thus enabling access to knowledge and resources for better health and well-being. However, people with long-term conditions can experience challenges to developing and maintaining social connectedness after a major change in life course. We suggest that healthcare providers are well placed to facilitate ways for people with long-term conditions to socially connect with others in their neighbourhood and community, and that this in particular be attended to after a major life change. MDPI 2019-05-28 2019-06 /pmc/articles/PMC6603716/ /pubmed/31141893 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16111875 Text en © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Wilkinson, Amanda
Bowen, Lucy
Gustavsson, Elias
Håkansson, Simon
Littleton, Nicole
McCormick, James
Thompson, Michelle
Mulligan, Hilda
Maintenance and Development of Social Connection by People with Long-term Conditions: A Qualitative Study
title Maintenance and Development of Social Connection by People with Long-term Conditions: A Qualitative Study
title_full Maintenance and Development of Social Connection by People with Long-term Conditions: A Qualitative Study
title_fullStr Maintenance and Development of Social Connection by People with Long-term Conditions: A Qualitative Study
title_full_unstemmed Maintenance and Development of Social Connection by People with Long-term Conditions: A Qualitative Study
title_short Maintenance and Development of Social Connection by People with Long-term Conditions: A Qualitative Study
title_sort maintenance and development of social connection by people with long-term conditions: a qualitative study
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6603716/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31141893
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16111875
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