FaithAction Workshop: Measuring Loneliness Among Migrant Populations

FaithAction are developing training and guidance for faith and community organisations on social prescribing, and how to measure the effectiveness of loneliness interventions. This will be particularly aimed at organisations working with individuals who speak English as a second language.

We want to hear from those who engage directly with these populations to gather best practice on including them in loneliness measures, and to shape the development of our own guidance and training material.

We are holding an online workshop to co-design the content of our guidance with faith and community organisations.

Background

Loneliness is defined as “a subjective, unwelcome feeling of lack or loss of companionship. It happens when we have a mismatch between the quantity and quality of social relationships that we have, and those that we want.”*

Whilst the links between loneliness and poor health are well known, the evidence on what works to prevent or alleviate loneliness is patchy, especially among minority groups. This is largely because there has been no standard way of measuring loneliness and the interventions aiming to tackle it.

This is why the government asked Office for National Statistics (ONS) to develop a national indicator for loneliness, to give a consistent framework for capturing data on loneliness.

At FaithAction, we want to equip grassroots organisations working with populations experiencing inequalities to measure the effectiveness of their interventions, using this ONS measure. Both to help build a clearer picture of the causes and solutions to loneliness in communities, but also help these organisations demonstrate their effectiveness and attract funding to resource their work.

In this session, you will:

• Gain a broad understanding of loneliness, social prescribing and the ONS loneliness measure
• Learn how capturing data on your activities can help you attract funding, and expand your work
• Input into the development of our training and guidance
• Share what works among the communities you support
• Have the opportunity to contribute case studies and examples to be shared nationally

*See Perlman D and Peplau LA (1981) ‘Toward a Social Psychology of Loneliness’, which can be found in Gilmour R and Duck S (editors) (1981), Personal relationships. 3, Personal relationships in disorder, London: Academic Press, pages 31 to 56.