12 Complex, interrelated drivers loneliness, an ecological model of health has of loneliness been adapted and tailored to help organise and illustrate the interplay of these drivers (See Figure Of course, not everyone that experiences a 6, below). Many people identified barriers to transitional life event becomes chronically lonely connection from individual-level characteristics – and not everyone who experiences loneliness or circumstances (e.g. health, finance, anxiety has undergone this kind of transition. Participants and other mental health difficulties, etc). For also raised a wide range of causes of loneliness some, it was severed connections (as discussed – causes which were typically complex, multi- above) that seemed the most pressing cause faceted, and reinforcing. of disconnection. Others raised barriers at a Each participant raised different barriers to community level, noting issues like service or connection, or causes of disconnection, and infrastructure gaps that made it harder for them what seemed to be most significant in their to find positive, effective, and sustained social path to loneliness varied enormously. Often, support. And some participants also identified barriers were interconnected: for example, a drivers of loneliness at a social level: in terms of participant with mobility problems might initially shared social norms about how we connect with have become disconnected from a favourite each other, the shape of modern lifestyles and social activity because it became difficult to travel habits, the current funding environment, and so on. to participate; at the same time, fatigue or pain We saw a complex interplay across these drivers made engaging in new activities difficult; and (individual, community, society level), and across concerns or experiences around stigma made the factors within each driver. Identifying the direction participant more wary about connection full stop. of causality was not possible, given the scope and As a way of summarising and making sense of scale of the research. these varied and often complex drivers of 12 Sallis, J. F., Cervero, R. B., Ascher, W., Henderson, K. A., Kraft, M. K., and Kerr, J. (2006) “An Ecological Approach to Creating More Physically Active Communities”, Annual Review of Public Health, 27, 297–322 Figure 6. Other drivers of loneliness and barriers to connection c Social and cultural norms, work/life o ie t S y balance, stigma, digital age, insular communities, political landscape, mmun o ity C financial hardships nec t on ion Social activities, funding cuts, C s Indi- statutory services, transport, vidual neighbourhood safety Friends and acquaintances, family, colleagues Sense of self, health, income, energy, confidence, emotions, perceptions What causes loneliness, and how can it become chronic? 21