Annual progress reports of funded research
Targeting mechanisms underlying loneliness in chronic conditions (2024751)
- Professor Viviana Wuthrich (Chief Investigator A)
- Macquarie University
- Budget: $787,880.00
- Funding period: 2024 to 2028
Project Synopsis
Social isolation and loneliness have a bidirectional relationship with poorer chronic disease outcomes. This project aims to understand the causal psychological mechanisms that underlie this relationship using a mixed-method design across 3 studies.
These studies will identify the social, emotional, cognitive and health factors associated with social isolation and loneliness in chronic disease populations using qualitative research (study 1), and through a new longitudinal study to identify the psychological causal mechanisms that cause and maintain social isolation and loneliness, and how these impact on chronic disease outcomes over time (study 2).
Building on our existing work that has identified key psychological strategies for reducing loneliness in non-illness populations, coupled with the new knowledge from the findings in studies 1 and 2 of this project that identify the likely causal mechanisms, we will evaluate in a clinical trial a psychological intervention to reduce social isolation and loneliness in individuals with chronic diseases (study 3).
This body of work will lead to new knowledge about the psychological factors that cause and maintain social isolation and loneliness in chronic disease populations over time, the impact of social isolation and loneliness on chronic disease management and chronic disease outcomes and establish preliminary evidence of novel therapeutic approaches to improve the wellbeing of people living with chronic diseases.
Progress report 30 April 2024
The project has completed its initial stages including finalising institutional contracts and employing a postdoctoral fellow.
The design and recruitment for Study 1 has been finalised. Data collection for this was completed in August 2024. Data analysis is currently underway.
The design for study 2 has also been finalised. The study has been approved by the Macquarie University Human Research Ethics Committee. The survey is being finalised and recruitment will begin soon.
Publications and other resources
23rd October 2024: 'Targeting Mechanisms Underlying Loneliness in Chronic Conditions' Presentation by Dr Jessamine Chen at the Loneliness, Social Isolation and Chronic Disease Research Symposium featuring presentations and a Q&A session from the successful recipients of the NHMRC 2022 Targeted Call for Research on loneliness, social isolation and chronic disease management. Monash University, Melbourne.
16th September 2024: 'Understanding Loneliness and Chronic Disease: Mechanisms and Interventions'. Presentation by Professor Viviana Wuthrich at the 'Cognitive Therapy and Connection: Moving Beyond the Mind' CPD event hosted by the Australian Social Prescribing Institute of Research and Education (ASPIRE), Hornsby RSL, Sydney.
Towards a holistic priority setting approach for chronic disease management to tackle loneliness and social isolation in Australia (2024805)
- Professor Cathrine Mihalopoulos (Chief Investigator A)
- Monash University
- Budget: $1,703,439.75
- Funding period: 2023 to 2028
Project Synopsis
Loneliness and social isolation are 2 of the most pressing public health challenges of contemporary society. Recognising the complexity of loneliness and social isolation and their interconnection with chronic diseases, a multidisciplinary approach is required to tackle these issues. Although Australian, state and territory and local governments have all provided varying degrees of funding and support to local councils and community organisations for programs to address the social isolation and loneliness of Australians, the lack of a national planning framework means that little guidance is currently provided to decision-makers and planners in terms of where to invest, into what kind of interventions, and whom to target.
For the first time, our multidisciplinary team will employ a holistic priority setting approach for chronic disease management in Australia to tackle loneliness and social isolation. Our proposal leverages our team’s prior work and expertise to address this gap, aiming to improve the quality of life of people living with chronic diseases. Collectively, our program of research will address all 3 aims of this Targeted Call via 3 work streams (WS).
WS1 will inform our understanding of mechanisms that drive loneliness and social isolation, identify areas and pathways that link loneliness and social isolation to reductions in health, and develop a national heatmap of loneliness. WS2 will identify scalable interventions based on community needs and consumer preferences. WS3 will build an easy to use economic model of loneliness and social isolation including impacts on chronic health conditions (including mental health).
Ultimately, our goal is to help alleviate loneliness and social isolation by providing effective and cost-effective services that will improve the lives of people living with chronic conditions and provide good value for money, including likely cost savings, to the healthcare system and the society overall.
Progress report 30 April 2024
The project is still in start-up phase and there are no formal publications or outputs as such at present. Although technical analyses are being undertaken so that key outputs will be on track as per our timelines.
SIncere: Developing resources to support Socially INClusivE caRE for mental ill-health (2024853)
- Dr Kate Filia (Chief Investigator A)
- University of Melbourne
- Budget: $1,783,246.90
- Funding period: 2024 to 2029
Project Synopsis
Mental illness is a chronic health condition with high disease burden. People experiencing severe mental illness also experience high social exclusion (for instance, poor social networks, social participation, engagement in education or employment, housing and/or financial instability). Social exclusion provides a framework to understand relationships between these significant contributors to social isolation and loneliness.
Recent commissions into mental health (such as, Productivity and Victorian Royal Commission) highlighted the need for innovation in mental health services particularly relating to social inclusion. However, there is paucity of meaningful outcome measures and clinical practice guidelines to facilitate this innovation.
Our award-winning team has been addressing these issues by developing a framework of social inclusion and a tool to assess social inclusion and guide care (Filia Social Inclusion Measure; F-SIM16). This research program will allow us to advance our work and develop evidence-based, consumer-informed resources to facilitate social inclusion focused care for people with mental illness, with localised implementation models allowing immediate clinical translation. This work will occur across 3 work packages comprising a range of quantitative and qualitative methodologies.
In the first work package, we will:
- undertake further psychometric analyses of the F-SIM16 tool
- identify risk factors associated with social exclusion, social isolation, and loneliness
- determine the supports consumers and clinicians need in facilitating social inclusion
- develop a manual for the F-SIM16; and (v) evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of the F-SIM16 and associated resources.
The second work package will involve the establishment of clinical practice guidelines detailing best-practice approaches to addressing contributors to social isolation and loneliness in care.
The final work package involves development of implementation tool kits.
Progress report 30 April 2024
This project has only recently commenced (March 2024). While key research findings are not yet available, we have been busy building our study team, and engaging collaborators and service providers to implement the project. Protocols and ethics applications are under development, and we are establishing our lived experience advisory groups. These groups will provide important contributions through all stages of the study, including informing protocol development, project implementation and dissemination of findings.
Groups for Belonging: a parallel cluster randomised controlled trial of a group-based loneliness intervention for people attending treatment for alcohol or substance use disorders (2024872)
- Professor Peter Kelly (Chief Investigator A)
- University of Wollongong
- Budget: $1,290,844.65
- Funding period: 2023 to 2027
Project Synopsis
Loneliness and social isolation are significant issues for people with alcohol and other substance use disorders (hereafter ‘substance use disorder’). Research led by our team has found that people accessing treatment services in Australia for substance use disorders were almost seven times more likely to experience frequent loneliness than the general Australian population. Additionally, these findings revealed that substance use populations are over 5 times more likely than the general population to regard loneliness as a serious concern.
Addressing loneliness and social isolation is recommended as part of substance use treatment, as close social ties have important implications for treatment. People who have greater abstinence-specific social support achieve better substance related treatment outcomes. However, loneliness is not routinely addressed as part of substance use treatment and a randomised controlled trial (RCT) of a loneliness intervention has not been previously trialled within substance use treatment settings.
We plan to conduct the first RCT of a loneliness intervention for people with substance use disorders. Our team have developed, and successfully demonstrated the feasibility of, Groups for Belonging. This is a 6 session (12-hour) group intervention that addresses loneliness and social group support in the context of substance use. The proposed trial will be conducted as a parallel cluster RCT and will examine the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of Groups for Belonging for people accessing substance use disorder treatment. The study is being conducted as part of routine care, and if effective, can easily be incorporated across Australian substance use treatment settings.
The project involves ongoing meaningful consultation with lived experience experts and is being conducted in partnership with the peak bodies for substance use treatment in Victoria and NSW, as well as the NSW Ministry for Health, Centre for Alcohol and Other Drugs.
Progress report 30 April 2024
Our key focus has been setting up the administrative governance for the project. We have commenced regular meetings of the research team, we have commenced engagement with our lived experience advisors, and we have commenced regular meetings with the partner organisations. We have successfully recruited a person into the Study Coordinator role. We are due to submit our ethics applications this week.