scholarly journals Contexts That Exclude: Loneliness in North America, Europe, and Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 609-610
Author(s):  
Norah Keating ◽  
Vera Roos

Abstract Loneliness is a key indicator of exclusion from social relations. Its prevalence among older people is of increasing global concern given the powerful impact of loneliness on health and wellbeing. To date, empirical and theoretical advancements in understanding loneliness have been focused on the micro contexts of networks of social relationships surrounding older people. Yet these relationships occur within broader socio-cultural, political and geographical settings that may help us better understand the experiences and manifestations of loneliness. In this presentation we draw on our research on loneliness on three continents. Findings from Canada show how ageing in a foreign land can truncate social connections. Research across Europe reveals differences in values and expectations about social connections. South African findings illustrate the long-term impact of dislocation resulting from political ideologies. We draw together these findings to create an ecological model of contexts that may lead to cumulative disadvantage in social relations.

Author(s):  
Vanessa Burholt ◽  
Marja Aartsen

AbstractIn this part we focus on the domain of exclusion from social relations where social relations can be defined as comprising social resources, social connections and social networks. Other types of social engagement with formal civic, political and voluntary groups and organisations are not included in this part, but instead are incorporated in the domain of civic exclusion [see Part VI]. Theorising on exclusion from social relations is facilitated by the ROSEnet Cost Action, which brought together experts in the field and led to the publication of a critical review and development of a conceptual model of exclusion from social relations for older people (Burholt et al. 2019). The model captured the complexity of exclusion from social relations through a subjective interpretation of the literature and took into account the inter-relationships between systems in the critical human ecology framework (Fig. 6.1). The synthesis of the findings was endorsed by the working group on social relations comprising 45 members from 25 countries. The purpose of this introduction is to outline what exclusion from social relations involves, and to frame the three contributions within this part in the broader research debates and scholarship on this topic.


Author(s):  
Khosi Kubeka ◽  
Sharmla Rama

Combining the theories of intersectionality and social exclusion holds the potential for structural and nuanced interpretations of the workings of power, taking systemic issues seriously but interpreting them though social relations that appear in local contexts. An intersectional analysis of social exclusion demonstrates to what extent multiple axes of social division—be they race, age, gender, class, disability or citizenship—intersect to result in unequal and disparate experiences for groups of youth spatially located in particular communities and neighborhoods. A common reference point is therefore power and how it manifests at the intersection of the local and global. A South African case study is used to explore the subjective measures and qualitative experiences of intersectionality and social exclusion further. The unique ways that language intersects with space, neighborhood, and race in the South African context, enables opportunities in education and the labor market, with profound implications for forms of social exclusion.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 107-107
Author(s):  
Bridin Carroll ◽  
Kieran Walsh

Abstract Older people experiencing homelessness and older Irish Travellers (OTOH) are both over-represented in the cohort who use acute health services. Impending health care reform in Ireland will be based on primary care models, meaning home and community care will be, for the first time, underpinned by a regulatory framework. For these reasons, this study aims to gain a nuanced understanding of how OTOH, as marginalised older people, might be best served by new home care and community care models. Using a qualitative, voice-led approach, a life course and structural determinants lens is employed to probe the health conditions, experiences and expectations of OTOH, as well as their perceptions and values around the concept of ‘home’. The research processes and outcomes of one of five phases of research are presented in this paper: participant-led research. In this phase, five OTOH were trained and assisted to complete a short research project which fed into the goals of the wider study. Emergent findings suggest that social connections underpin health and well-being for OTOH, throughout the life course, and presently. This was also seen as a fundamental element for healthy and positive ageing. In addition, ‘home’ was defined with reference to the presence (or absence) of familial or other social connections. This study represents an important contribution to scholarship on old age social exclusion. It is entirely novel in its approach to focusing on OTOH health and wellbeing. The outputs of this study also have important implications for upcoming health reform policies in Ireland.


2008 ◽  
Vol 28 (6) ◽  
pp. 875-899 ◽  
Author(s):  
SUZANNE MOFFATT ◽  
GRAHAM SCAMBLER

ABSTRACTIt is known that, in general, people of pensionable age have gained in income compared to other age groups in the British population over the last two decades, but that a substantial minority still experience relative poverty. This paper reports a small qualitative study into the effectiveness of a welfare-rights advice and acquisition service for men and women aged 60 or more years that was provided through a local primary health-care service. Additional financial and non-financial resources were obtained by accessing previously unclaimed state-welfare benefits. It was found that these significantly improved the participants' quality of life. Fourteen of the 25 participants received some type of financial award as a result of the service offered, with the median income gain being £57 (€84 or US $101) per week. The impact of additional resources was considerable and included: increased affordability of necessities and occasional expenses; increased capacity to cope with emergencies; and reduced stress related to financial worries. Knowledge of and access to welfare-rights services also appeared to have a positive effect. It is argued that a level of material resources above a basic level is necessary for social relations and for accessing services and civic activities, and can reduce social exclusion among older people.


2016 ◽  
Vol 72 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matsobane Manala

This article sets forth the argument that Christian ministry in Africa must become socially and culturally informed and constructed or else it will not touch the African soul and thus remain superficial. Black African people aspire above everything else to experience fullness of life and wellbeing here and now, as demonstrated by their greetings that are actually an enquiry into each other’s health and an expression of the wish for the other’s good health and wellbeing. The mainline churches that operate in Africa should embrace the scripturally sound Christian healing ministry in obedience to Christ’s commission to preach the gospel and heal the sick, if they are to prosper. Hence, this article discusses the following eight points, namely, (1) good health and healing as Africans’ important aspiration, (2) healing as the work of God and thus of the church, (3) the imperative of serious consideration of and respect for the African worldview, (4) membership decline and mainline churches’ loss of influence, (5) rethinking church in African Christianity, (6) the need for the black African church to adopt a therapeutic or healing community ecclesial model in order to position itself strategically to cater for the holistic needs of African (South African) church members and surrounding communities, (7) the rationale of the healing ministry in today’s Reformed Church in Africa and (8) the recommended healing ministry. The article closes with a few concluding statements and advice


Author(s):  
Marine Erasmus ◽  
Helen Kean

Background: This study contributes to the detailed understanding of the drivers of medical scheme expenditure on private hospitals in South Africa over 2006–2014. This is important in the context of various regulatory reforms that are being considered at present. Aim: The aim is to provide an updated analysis and description of the drivers of medical scheme expenditure on private hospitals in South Africa. Setting: Private hospital market, South Africa. Methods: Data from the three largest private hospital groups – which account for approximately 70% of the South African private hospital market share – are collected, aggregated and analysed. This study uses targeted descriptive and exploratory analyses, relying on a residual approach to hospital expenditure. Results: It is found that over time medical scheme beneficiaries, on average, are being admitted to private hospitals more frequently, as well as staying in hospital for longer during each admission. The data also indicate that over time older people are being admitted to hospital more often. Conclusion: This study’s findings contradict previous assertions that it is only prices driving increased medical scheme expenditure on private hospitals.


2021 ◽  
pp. 466-488
Author(s):  
Erika Kraemer-Mbula ◽  
Rasigan Maharajh

This chapter explores the main achievements and remaining challenges in the governance of the South African science, technology, and innovation (STI) system. While reflecting on the inherited features from the apartheid period, it focuses on the period between the two White Papers in 1996 and 2019. The chapter discusses the main shifts in policy emphasis (intents) of these two policy/institutional developments and connects them to the STI system performance and its measurement. It shows that the drastic shift in policy orientation towards addressing social imperatives and the quantitative improvements in the STI outputs since 1994, have not materialized in a radical transformation of the economy or the social relations inherited from apartheid. The chapter argues that the assessment of the STI system needs to be expanded through an evolutionary lens in order to activate the needed systemic transformations.


Author(s):  
Charles Musselwhite ◽  
Theresa Scott

Driving a car meets older people’s needs, providing utility (getting from A to B), psychosocial (providing identity and roles and feelings of independence and normality) and aesthetic (mobility for its own sake) mobilities. Giving up driving is related to poorer health and wellbeing. This paper addresses how older people cope when they give up driving, using Bourdieu’s theory of capital as a way of categorising different barriers and enablers to managing without a car in a hypermobile society. Older people are most likely to mention barriers and enablers to mobility relating to infrastructure capital (technology, services, roads, pavements, finance and economics), followed by social capital (friends, family, neighbourhood and community). Cultural capital (norms, expectations, rules, laws) and individual capital (skills, abilities, resilience, adaptation and desire and willingness to change) are less important but still significantly contribute to older people’s mobility. Implications for policy and practice suggest that provision for older people beyond the car must explore capital across all four of the domains.


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