Participating in a Senior Summer Camp - Insights on How it Affected the Participants Life and Mitigated Their Loneliness                      Veronika Wallroth1, Kjerstin Larsson2, Agneta Schröder2 1Department of Culture and Society (IKOS), Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden. 2University Health Care Research Center, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden 

Proposal typeOral PresentationAbstractLoneliness is seen as a risk factor for decreased physical and mental health. According to the Swedish Social Services Act the municipality has an obligation to ensure that older adult should not be alone against their own will. 

Senior summer camps in Sweden offer older adults a chance to socialize and reduce loneliness and social isolation. However, few studies have examined how older adults themselves describe the experience and how it might have affected their daily lives after the stay. This study aims to fill this gap by exploring the experiences of older adults who participated in a senior summer camp.

The study used a qualitative design with a phenomenographic approach to explore the variations in how older adults perceived the impact of the camp on their lives. Nineteen older adults aged 66-94 years were interviewed. Three descriptive categories emerged: “Mitigating loneliness,” “Developing as a person,” and “Gaining inspiration.”

 The study found that the older adults experienced lasting positive effects on their quality of life from their stay at the summer camp. The sense of community at the camp helped them break the experience of loneliness, they improved their self-confidence, and they gained a more positive attitude to life.

 Senior summer camps can have a positive impact on the lives of older adults, helping to reduce loneliness, improve self-confidence, and promote a more positive outlook on life.

Keywordssenior summer campsocial activitiesolder adultlonelinessquality of life

Several municipalities in Sweden organize senior summer camps where older adults can meet and where loneliness and social isolation can be mitigated. Few studies, however, examine how the older adults themselves describe the experience in retrospect and how it might have influenced their daily lives after the stay. This study aims to fill this gap by examining how older adults who participated in a senior summer camp experience the impact the stay has had on their lives. The study has a descriptive qualitative design that uses a phenomenographic approach to explore the variations in the older adults’ conceptions of how their participation at the senior summer camp may have affected them. Nineteen older adults aged between 66 and 94 years were interviewed. Three descriptive categories emerge: “Mitigating loneliness,” ‘Developing as a person’ and ‘Gaining inspiration.’ The study shows that the older adults experience that the stay at the summer camp has had lasting effects on their quality of life. The sense of community at the camp helped them break the experience of loneliness, they improved their self-confidence and gained a positive attitude to life, that it is worth living and that there is much left to experience, regardless of their age.

Senior summer camps are arranged by more and more municipalities in Sweden with the purpose of creating a place where older adults can meet and mitigate their socialisolation. The aim of the study is to understand, from their own point of view, how the participants experienced senior summer camp. A phenomenographic approach was used to surface the older adults’ experiences and analyze the data. Three descriptive categories evolved: “A pleasant environment to be in”, “Something to do for everyone”and “Breaking one’s loneliness”. Findings from this study suggest that just getting away,not having to cook, seeing and experiencing something else, and having company when eating food or doing activities meant a lot to the participants, who all have different experiences of loneliness. Knowing that other people were lonely made the participants at the senior summer camp realize that they were not to blame for their loneliness.

Action is being taken across Europe to address social isolation and loneliness among older adults. More and more municipalities in Sweden are now arranging, senior summer camps to create a place where older adults can meet and break their social isolation. Building on a larger project evaluating a senior summer camp for older adults in the summer of 2017 this presentation focusses on how the older adults experienced their stay at a senior summer camp. A qualitative method with a phenomenographic approach was chosen to explore the qualitative variations in the older adult’s experience of staying at a senior summer camp. Three descriptive categories evolved relating to how the participant experienced the senior summer camp. The descriptive categories were “A pleasant environment to be in”, “Something to do for all” and “Brake once loneliness”. Findings from this study implies that just getting away, not having to cook, seeing, and experiencing something else and having company when eating food or doing activities meant a lot to the participants who experience loneliness in different ways. Knowing that other nice persons where lonely made the participants at the senior summer camp realize that loneliness was not due to themselves.

Ensamhet ses som en riskfaktor för att utveckla fysisk och mental ohälsa. I Sverige uppskattas var tionde äldre vuxen besväras av ensamhet och psykisk ohälsa. I denna fenomenologiskt inspirerade studie har 19 äldre personer mellan 66-94 år intervjuats om varför de är ensamma och hur de upplever ensamheten, detta innan de deltog i ett äldre kollo sommaren 2017.

Målgruppen för äldre kollot var äldre personer som upplever att de är ensamma och har ett begränsat socialt umgänge och som inte har möjlighet att själva att ta initiativ till att delta i olika aktiviteter och bryta ensamheten.

Syftet med studien var att få kunskap om varför informanterna upplevde ensamhet samt hur de beskrev sina erfarenheter av att vara ensamma innan de deltog i äldre kollot.

Informanterna angav flera orsaker till sin ensamhet och det som framkom i resultaten var bl.a. att det var svårare att få kontakt med andra personer på äldre dar, vänner och bekanta har dött och vänskapsrelationer som de haft tidigare har varit svåra att behålla. Många av informanterna var anhörigvårdare till sin make/maka, några hade nyligen flyttat, de hade sämre ekonomi och att de inte kunde förflytta sig lika flexibelt som tidigare då de inte hade en bil att tillgå. När det gäller upplevelsen om ensamhet utryckte många informanter att de kände sig väldigt ensamma trots att de hade ett aktivt socialt liv. De saknade meningsfulla relationer, någon som de kunde vända sig till i förtroende och utveckla en nära vänskapsrelation med. De upplevde behovet av att tillhöra något eller behovet av en förändring i vardagen.

The aim of the present study was explore why the informants were feeling lonely and considered themselves to be in need of attending a senior summer camp, and how the informants were experiencing loneliness before they went to the senior summer camp. Interviews was made with nineteen older adult people (15 women and 4 men). A phenomenological inspired approach was used for the analysis of the interviews. Eight themes resulted: Hard to make new friends, Other circumstances making it hard to be social, Feel very lonely even if they lead rich social lives, Loss of loved ones, Do not want to do things alone, Friends make a difference, Do not feel lonely but need a change and Loneliness occurs at certain times. Through this analysis, we have gain insights to better understand loneliness as a multifaceted phenomenon that is asso-ciated with both personal circumstances and social situations. Many of the informants experienced being very lonely, even if they lead rich social lives. The experience of loneliness was connected to not having anyone they can turn to in confidence or to share experiences with and the need to belong to something or the need of a change in everyday life.