SOLiEDAD: Community Action
Soliedad, choose not to be alone
CENIE, the centre for the study of longevity dependent on the General Foundation of the University of Salamanca, has released in Madrid the results of the report SOLiEDAD ‘Community Action, a tool for the prevention of loneliness and isolation of the elderly population’, a document that includes the lessons learned and challenges of the empirical intervention, a pilot and pioneering initiative carried out in the city of Zamora, with the aim of tackling and combating unwanted loneliness in the elderly population. The project led by the CENIE researcher, Elisa Sala Mozos, has had the collaboration of the researcher Regina Martínez Pascual and the leadership of the University School of Nursing of the Viriato Campus of Zamora.
Target
The study COMMUNITY ACTION, a tool for the prevention of loneliness and isolation of the elderly population, aims to raise awareness and sensitize social actors to the phenomenon of unwanted loneliness, which increases with age and is a major challenge for society in general. This study has made it possible to address loneliness in a specific and direct way, adopting a public policy approach that takes into account the complexity of the phenomenon in the territory. It has also addressed people's experiences in a concrete way, within the social and community environment in which they live their lives.
The aim of this empirical research, as stated in the report, was to ‘address loneliness in a specific and direct way with a public policy approach, taking into account the complexity of the phenomenon in the territory, and addressing the experience of people in a concrete way, in the social and community environment in which they live their lives’.
Specifically, through the methodology implemented, known as Participatory Action Research (PAR), the aim was to involve the population in all phases of the project. The procedure itself enables learning and awareness-raising, empowerment and transformative action. In this case, the first step was to establish the solid foundations for the development of a community process, where the exercise of leadership must come from an agent known and recognised by the territory itself, in order to establish a relationship of trust with the people and social agents involved. This leadership was led by the University School of Nursing of the Viriato Campus in Zamora (EUEMIFER).
This research is part of the project ‘Programme for a Longevity Society’, approved under the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) Programme Interreg V-A, Spain-Portugal, {POCTEP), 2014-2020.