Being part of an everyday community - how social participation can enable change
In today's society, loneliness and isolation is an increasingly common problem for many people and being in an everyday community with others is not a given for everyone.
This thesis describes how everyday activities with others can be understood as an ongoing and changing process in people's lives. The thesis is based on studies conducted with people in different life situations; people with rheumatic disease, older people with depression and healthy older people. The results of the research show how everyday activities constitute an arena where community and belonging can be created. Being part of an everyday community meant for the participants that they were part of a meaningful context based on reciprocity. This created a sense of security and the value of being needed and appreciated by others. Being part of such a context enabled participants to imagine future involvement in activities and to create changes in their life situation. However, an everyday community was not something that could be taken for granted and the results show how it was an ongoing process of maintaining previous relationships and seeking out new contexts where everyday communities could be created. However, this proved not to be possible for everyone and the results point to the importance of being invited and included by other people. Opportunities to access everyday activities with others were largely linked to different places such as people's homes, neighborhoods or meeting places in the community. The results show that access to different places was not enough in itself to create an everyday community, but places could also be associated with loneliness and isolation. Being invited and included in different contexts proved to be a social resource and shows how people and places are closely linked. The meaning of a place could therefore change over time for participants. These results provide an understanding of the importance of everyday community in preventing loneliness and isolation. The results also show the importance of creating arenas in society where people have the opportunity to become part of everyday communities that promote participation and enable change in the life situation.
Collaborators in the project:
Staffan Josephsson, Professor of Occupational Therapy, Karolinska Institutet
Gunilla Isaksson, Professor of Occupational Therapy, LTU
Anneli Nyman, PhD student in the project (defended her thesis in 2013)
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