Authors
Mayumi Sato
Publication date
2020/8
Description
This report, Understanding Social Connectedness amongst Older People in Low-Income and Middle-Income Countries (LMCs), explores how older people in Moldova experience, understand, and pursue social connectedness and belonging. This exploratory research is a joint study undertaken in collaboration between HelpAge International, an international NGO that helps older people claim their rights, and the Samuel Centre for Social Connectedness (SCSC), a non-profit dedicated to overcoming social isolation and building social connectedness. Using Moldova as a pilot country to serve as a case study of a global analysis of how older people come to understand and value social connectedness, this participatory action research integrates older peoples’ voices in Moldova to better uphold older peoples’ rights. In collecting, coding, and analyzing 51 survey respondents from 12 villages and cities across Moldova, this research examines how the intersections between individual identity, interpersonal relationships, and the built environment affect belonging amongst older people. Ultimately, the results demonstrate that older communities define social connectedness across a wide spectrum of definitions, most saliently depending on individual family circumstances, gender, existing local government services, length of time spent in the community, and access to community spaces. Most notably, social connectedness is a phenomenon and feeling expressed as one that allowed older people to feel physically active and access community-wide services, supported by individuals such as their family and neighbours, or paid attention to by …
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