Publications by authors named "L Rautiainen"
Background: Loneliness, a major public health concern, could be alleviated through social interventions with nature contact as a primary component. "Friends in Nature" is a complex nature-based social intervention designed to be implemented as part of "Reimagining Environments for Connection and Engagement: Testing Actions for Social Prescribing in Natural Spaces" (RECETAS). This project aims to alleviate loneliness and promote health-related quality of life in six different geographic areas worldwide.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- * The study involved 162 lonely participants who engaged in a weekly nature-based program for nine weeks, while 157 others received standard care; their health, loneliness, and wellbeing were assessed before and after the intervention.
- * Results showed a typical participant age of 83, with most dealing with co-morbidities; about 57% of those in the nature program reported reduced loneliness, and 96% would recommend the intervention to others.
Introduction: Loneliness, social inactivity, and social isolation are intertwined concepts. When assessed separately, they indicate poor well-being, adverse health effects, and increased mortality. Studies exploring overlapping and comparing the prognosis of these concepts are scarce.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNature-based social interventions to address loneliness among vulnerable populations: a common study protocol for three related randomized controlled trials in Barcelona, Helsinki, and Prague within the RECETAS European project.
BMC Public Health
January 2024
Background: The negative effects of loneliness on population health and wellbeing requires interventions that transcend the medical system and leverage social, cultural, and public health system resources. Group-based social interventions are a potential method to alleviate loneliness. Moreover, nature, as part of our social and health infrastructure, may be an important part of the solutions that are needed to address loneliness.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To investigate the change in feelings of loneliness among Finnish community-dwelling older people from before the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019 to during the pandemic in 2021. Moreover, we explore the changes in other dimensions of psychological well-being (PWB) during the study period.
Design: Questionnaires were mailed in the 2019 Helsinki Aging Study, a repeated cohort study.