Filling a void? The role of social enterprise in addressing social isolation and loneliness in rural communities
Filling a void? The role of social enterprise in addressing social isolation and loneliness in rural communities
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DOI：
10.1016/j.jrurstud.2019.01.024
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发表时间：
2019-08-01
影响因子：
5.1
通讯作者：
Baker, Rachel
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Kelly, Danielle;Steiner, Artur;Baker, Rachel
社会孤立和孤独因其对身心健康的负面影响而被列为主要的公共卫生问题，而生活在偏远或农村地区是一个突出的促成风险因素。社区主导的社会企业模式在政府政策中被认为是一种潜在的预防社会孤立和孤独的措施，但对其在农村环境中的应用缺乏了解。本文的目的是调查社会企业在解决农村社区社会孤立和孤独中的作用，并探索社会企业活动可能对社会企业受益人的健康和福祉产生作用的途径。我们还讨论了农村社区成员提供和维持这种服务的能力。该研究对苏格兰高地和群岛七家社会企业的35名利益攸关方进行了为期三年的深入访谈，其中包括董事会成员、工作人员、志愿者和服务用户。调查结果显示，社会企业正在成功地提供活动，抵消导致社会孤立和孤独感的因素，为个人带来更广泛的健康和福祉好处。然而，社会企业的可持续性和连续性值得怀疑，因为人口较少，经营社会企业的专门知识和知识有限，对社会企业志愿者和工作人员的个人生活也有影响。这项研究支持这样的建议，即社会企业可以通过影响健康的社会决定因素的不同范围的活动来产生健康和福祉。然而，它也表明，依赖社会企业作为社会孤立和孤独的特殊解决方案是不稳定的，因为与农村相关的复杂性。因此，农村政策和实践必须摒弃“一刀切”的方法来解决社会孤立和孤独问题，认识到地方一级有必要采取有针对性的干预措施，并通过利用农村社会企业的潜力，提供与农村环境相关的灵活服务。
Social isolation and loneliness has been classed as a major public health concern due to its negative physical and mental health implications, and living in a remote or rural area is a prominent contributing risk factor. Community-led social enterprise models are recognised in government policy as a potential preventative measure for social isolation and loneliness, yet there is a lack of understanding of their application in rural contexts. The objectives of this paper are to investigate the role of social enterprise in addressing social isolation and loneliness in rural communities, and to explore the pathways in which social enterprise activity may act upon the health and wellbeing of social enterprise beneficiaries. We also discuss the capacity of rural community members to deliver and sustain such services. The study used in-depth interviews over a three-year period with 35 stakeholders from seven social enterprises in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, including board members, staff, volunteers and service users. Findings showed that social enterprises are successfully providing activities that counteract factors contributing to social isolation and feelings of loneliness, leading to wider health and wellbeing benefits for individuals. However, the sustainability and continuity of social enterprises are questionable due to the burden on smaller populations, limited expertise and knowledge of running social enterprises, and effects on the personal lives of social enterprise volunteers and staff. This study supports suggestions that social enterprises can be generators of health and wellbeing through their varied remit of activities that impact on the social determinants of health. However, it also shows that relying on social enterprise as a particular solution to social isolation and loneliness is precarious due to complexities associated with rurality. Therefore, rural policy and practice must move away from a 'one size fits all' approach to tackling social isolation and loneliness, recognise the need for local level tailored interventions and, through harnessing the potential or rural social enterprises, enable flexible service provision that correlates with rural context.