The impact of loneliness on wellbeing in New Zealand.

The impact of loneliness on wellbeing in New Zealand.
Author: Registered Diversional Therapist Orquidea N.G. Tamayo Mortera
Published by: New Zealand Society of Diversional and Recreational Therapists Inc.
with approved permission of the author.
Date: Sunday, July 1, 2018
Submitted on Turnitin on May 2018.

Introduction
Loneliness is a contemporary social issue in Aotearoa that affects individuals’
wellbeing. According to Heinrich and Gullone (2006), loneliness is the unpleasant
feeling that an individual experience due to the lack of social connections. Looking at
loneliness from a cultural and political sociological perspective may help understand
this issue better. Recent studies show that loneliness has negative effects on various
aspects of the individual wellbeing, young or old this particular issue does not
discriminate.

Social connections are a fundamental human need according to Lieberman (2014),
there seems to be a continuous increase in the cases of loneliness peculiarly among
older New Zealanders. A recent article published by the New Zealand Herald
Newspaper (Jones, 2018) reported that almost one in three older New Zealanders are
spending their days on their own. Nonetheless, the likelihood of living alone increases
as individuals grow older (Statistics New Zealand, 2016). In the light of this kind of
information, it looks like older New Zealanders are very likely to be the most affected
nationwide by this loneliness.

Two issues that one needs to remember about loneliness are the cultural and
environmental factors that are likely to provide a different insight or perception on the
current issue.

Cultural Perspective

A cultural perspective is the way in which a person’s culture influences the way they
think, behave or learn. According to Jamieson (2018), loneliness appears to relate to
living arrangements and ethnicity. Therefore, health, wellbeing or even loneliness is
likely to be influence by individuals’ cultural values.

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The Ministry of Social Development Report is broken down further than Asian, which
incorporates many separate ethnicities, highlighting that the Chinese Community
tends to be the most affected by loneliness. One is able to locate this information in
the current Ministry of Social Development Social Report (2016), which states that
this Asian Ethnic group has the highest percentage of loneliness in New Zealand with
a 16.7 percent rate in the loneliness scale.

Individuals also need to be aware that loneliness is likely to affect different ethnicities.
Aotearoa’s older population is rich in ethnic diversity with almost 213 ethnic groups
reported living in the country (Statistics New Zealand, 2013). The Ministry of Social
Development Social Report (2016) shows that other cultural groups have been
identified as lonely, however their rates were lower. For example, some of the small
ethnicities like Maori reported 16.0 percent, pacific peoples 13.5 percent and
European 13.2 percent.

Culture does provide an adequate explanation for the inequalities that emerge from
the social issue of loneliness. In the case of the Asian ethnic group the New Zealand
Herald newspaper reported that Immigration New Zealand revealed that nearly
11,000 migrants older than 50 who entered the country since 2011 are Chinese (Tan,
2018). According to the newspaper report, this particular ethnic group of individuals
entered the country under the New Zealand Residence Programme Parent Resident
Visa, which primarily aim, is to bring families together, for example grandparents only
role is look after the grandchildren until they grow up (New Zealand Immigration,
2018). By looking after the grandchildren, grandparent may not be able to access
learning opportunities to fully integrate in a new society such as learning a new
language, which then likely to lead them to isolation after the grandchild has grown up
and they might not need the grandparents any longer. There seems to be a lack of
current research in this area in order to confirm on whether the information reported
by the New Zealand Herald is accurate until further notice.

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Political Perspective

Political perspective involves social attitudes or ideologies that might influence social
policy. Political structures such as The 2001 New Zealand Positive Ageing Strategy
fostered the idea that older people should be encourage to remain living in their own
homes for as long as possible in order to enhance their overall wellbeing (Dalziel,
2001). Although, this might look like a sensible policy it seems to be out of date
according to the new Minister for Seniors. The current New Zealand government is
now reviewing this particular policy in order to adapt to the current needs and issues
that older New Zealanders are facing such as loneliness (Martin, 2018). For example,
the latest update from the Minister for seniors (2018) states that by 2036 one in 4.5
New Zealanders will be aged 65-plus, 1,258,500 million people.

Furthermore, loneliness is a high risk factor for people’s wellbeing, such as, functional
decline and the increase of mortality (Alspach, 2013). Loneliness seems to have
become an issue of such great concern in current society that governments such as
the United Kingdom have recently appointed the world’s first ever Minister for
Loneliness (Onyanga-Omara, 2018). Considering previous information, a few things
can be put in place to address loneliness. Updating policies to suit the current needs
of older people might be a good solution, providing access to grants or external
funding that older people can access to pay for other support like -accessible
transport- to keep them socially engage could be a good answer. Raising awareness,
creating campaigns and providing education for individuals or groups of people
around the social issue of loneliness might also address the problem (Grey Power,
2018)

Another solution perhaps, might be to create or foster inclusive healthy environments
and age friendly communities. An example of a healthy environment according to
recent research from the University of Arizona is neighborhoods in cluster
communities. Research from Zuniga-Teran et al. (2016), shows that residents of
cluster communities have the most social interaction with their neighbors, enhancing
quality of life. Thus, neighborhood designs could positively affect people’s lifestyle,
health and ultimately human wellbeing. In the political context, would be great to see
allocated funding for cohousing projects that are well-established communities in

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other countries, that seems to reduce isolation due to the physical designs
(Cohousing New Zealand, 2018).

People making the decisions about the possible solutions to address loneliness are
very likely to be; the New Zealand Prime Minister, The Minister for Social
Development, The Minister for seniors, but also the individual affected by the issue
(RNZ, 2018). For example, government agencies might need to assess the cost of
the strategies that they can put in place; in order to release funding that may then
become available across the country for older people suffering from loneliness. In
addition, families and the individual suffering from loneliness would need to assess
the level of care, support required and current financial situation to be able to apply
for available external funding. Perhaps, individuals may also look at approaching
different local councils and community groups across New Zealand for the same
purpose of gaining support (Super Seniors, 2018).

Conclusion

According to Cacioppo (2009), humans do not do well if they are alone; they need to
be part of a tribe. Humans survive when they develop bonds, which provide mutual
aid, and if they are ostracized, they are likely to perish. Loneliness is very likely to
affect different ethnicities; therefore, it seems relevant to learn about people’s culture
to try and understand perceptions of loneliness from different individuals.

Building the resilience that people might need to combat the pain of loneliness will
take a lot of energy and real effort. The process of fostering inclusion may require
time, resources and commitment. It seems clear that in order to combat loneliness,
talking to someone for five minutes might not be sufficient. People helping others to
combat loneliness, are likely to be humans with a good level of empathy, compassion,
open mind and understanding. Loneliness is a social pain and humans might be able
to prevent this issue if they work either in groups or, in building social connections
through their individual actions. This may then ultimately develop a sense of trust and
belonging. Of course, raising awareness of the issue, and education, can also play an
important role in addressing loneliness. Additionally, approaching government
agencies and facilitating the development of enlightened policies could provide funds
to integrate health and wellbeing in our communities as part of the goal of combating
loneliness.
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Copyright © by Orquidea N.G. Tamayo Mortera

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