<< As new approaches to combine housing and living of senior citizens with instruments of sustainable community development, multi-generation cohousing and community developments have been promoted for more than a decade in Germany […]

The empirical results identify positive effects for residents living in the model projects as compared to a control group of people characterized by similar health and socio-economic attributes.

Although no significant differences existed before, the health conditions of the residents in the model projects turn out to be significantly better and professional care is less in demand.

The residents show a substantially higher level of neighbourhood support, and the residential qualities and social cohesion are given higher marks by the pilot project respondents. >>

Konstantin  & Volker Then, Centre for Social Investment (CSI), Heidelberg University, D  (in: ‘Community and Civil Society Returns of Multi-generation Cohousing in Germany’,  Journal of Civil Society, volume 9, April 2013)

*****

<< Research shows that social connection is crucial to wellbeing. This is not surprising. Humans have evolved in an environment where group membership is essential to survival. >>

<< The true importance of social connection becomes most apparent when it is absent. Loneliness can be severely damaging. […]

Loneliness can have serious health consequences, with a similar impact to high blood pressure, lack of exercise, obesity, or smoking. >>

<< There is growing evidence that people with strong social connections live longer.

This is due to social relationships themselves, not just because of associated health benefits such as increased exercise or improved mental health. >>

Kelly Jane-Frances, strategy and policy professional, founder & former director of the Grattan Institute, Australia (‘Social Cities’, 2012) 

*****

<< De kwantiteit en vooral de kwaliteit van sociale contacten is sterk geassocieerd met een waaier van gezondheidsaspecten […].

Het grote belang van sociale ondersteuning voor gezondheid werd duidelijk aangetoond door het Alameda County onderzoek.

Deze studie wees uit dat individuele scores op een gecombineerde sociaal-netwerk-index een sterke voorspellende waarde hadden voor mortaliteit, en dit na controle voor [=uitsluiting van] ervaren fysieke gezondheid, SES, rookgedrag, alcoholgebruik, sportbeoefening, zwaarlijvigheid, etnische afkomst en levenstevredenheid. >>

Miriam Beck, sociologe, sociaal assistent en erkend familiaal bemiddelaar (uit: ‘‘Theoretische achtergrondstudies in verband met ongelijkheid & gezondheid’, 2001)

*****

<< There is now a substantial body of evidence that indicates that the extent to which social relationships are strong and supportive is related to the health of individuals who live within such social contexts.

A review of population-based research on mortality risk over the last 20 years indicates that people who are isolated are at increased mortality risk from a number of causes.

For social support to be health promoting, it must provide both a sense of belonging and intimacy and must help people to be more competent and self-efficacious. >>

Lisa F. Berkman, Yale University School of Medicine, Dept. of Epidemiology and Public Health, New Haven, USA (in: ‘The role of social relations in health promotion’, Psychosomatic Medecine, 1995)

*****

<< Loneliness, long a bane of humanity, is increasingly seen today as a serious public health hazard.

Scientists who have identified significant links between loneliness and illness are pursuing the precise biological mechanisms that make it such a menace, digging down to the molecular level and finding that social isolation changes the human genome in profound, long-lasting ways.

Not only that, but the potential for damage caused by these genetic changes appears comparable to the injuries to health from smoking and, even worse, from diabetes and obesity.

The scientists’ conclusion : Loneliness can be a lethal risk. >>

Amy Ellis Nutt  (uit: ‘Loneliness grows from individual ache to public health hazard’, artikel in de Washington Post, over het onderzoek van Steven W. Cole, PhD, professor of medicine, hematology/oncology, en medewerkers, School of Medicine at UCLA, USA, 2016)

*****

<< In Africa, they say that if one person gets sick, everybody is sick.

The village or the tribe is seen as a huge tree with thousands of branches. When part of this living entity is diseased, there is a need to reexamine the whole tree.

This is why when somebody is sick in the village, everybody is worried, it reminds everybody that there is something present that is potentially dangerous for all. >>

Sobonfu Some, spirituele denker, geboren in Burkina Faso, verhuisd naar de VS (in: ‘The Spirit of Intimacy’, 1997)