Most older people find themselves living independently in the community with many downsizing to a unit in a retirement village. This environment provided the opportunity for both collection of good quality data and for conducting multimodal action research to drive evidence supported social change.
Access to three Wesley Mission retirement villages was acceded by each manager and resident representative body. A random sample of 218 respondents of 532 residents were interviewed by via a questionnaire.
For the population, the research took place against a background of life transitions that occur in older people’s lives, including downsizing into a unit, loss of a partner, deterioration of chronic conditions, physical accidents, losses of capacity etc. Three bipolar scales were used covering loneliness, anxiety depression, and suicidality with sociability questions also asked.
There was evidence of vulnerability with some residents more likely to experience poor results on all three scales.
There was a clear association between the activity “volunteering” and scores which showed low suicidality scale scores. Strongly associated with sociability, “volunteering” appeared to promote community connection and mental health.
This research results provide opportunities tor reframing our approach practically towards a situational perspective for increased knowledge and insights and to portend effective community-based strategies for mental health and suicide prevention.
Sociability and particular activities were found to influence loneliness, mood and suicidality including but not limited to attendance at “medical or professional appointments and therapies”. E.g. A person was likely to attend a psychoeducation group due to noticeable mood issues resulting in referral to the Older Persons Mental Health Program. Alternatively, other people’s isolation could be promoted by their exclusive focus on the needs of a ailing partner who was ailing in need of care to the exclusion of their carer’s social life experienced as loneliness and /or depression anxiety.
The research drove a more community based situational approach with likely outcomes including general community social activities with resident volunteers, community development, accessible well-being screening tools and better care outcomes. There is the likelihood of the extension of similar models to other retirement villages.