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Understanding loneliness amongst older LGBTQ adults: an important issue for social work
Linköping University, Department of Culture and Society, Division of Social Work. Linköping University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-9436-1223
2023 (English)In: Proceedings of the 12th ECSWR European Conference for Social Work Research, 2023Conference paper, Oral presentation with published abstract (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

Loneliness amongst older adults are topics relevant for social work practice and research. Older adults can also have a belonging to other social categories. The focus of this paper is on older LGBTQ adults. The issue at stake is how this belonging affect feelings of loneliness. Older LGBTQ adults have a unique history compared to other older adults since the change towards LGBTQs right have improved most significantly during the recent decades. Thus, this group have a history of marginalisation and discrimination. Research has demonstrated that older LGBTQ adults have different social networks than other older adults, depending more on friends and “family of choice” rather than on biological family. Other differences are that they are single to a greater extent than other older adults as well as lacking children. The aim of this presentation is to discuss how older LGBTQ understand different kinds of loneliness in relation to being both LGBT and an older adult. In order to reach participants different strategies were used, such as approaching LGBTQ organization, specific organisations for LGBTQ seniors, a Pride-festival in Stockholm, organizations for senior citizens, snowball sampling, and a senior housing facility for older LGBTQ adults. A qualitative approach has been applied and 15 semi-structured interviews have been conducted with older adults (65+) self-identifying as LGBTQ. Thematic content analysis has been used, primarily focusing on the latent meaning in the material. Even though the main focus is on loneliness the presentation will also shed light on different social relationships since this is the other side of loneliness. To understand the meaning attributed to different social relationships Granovetter´s theoretical concept weak-ties and strong-ties has been applied. The findings suggest that interviewees talked about a feeling of loneliness in relation to being an older adult and/or being LGBTQ. Sometimes one category was more in focus and sometimes the other. It was also possible to discern that sometimes the belonging to both categories could reinforce feelings of loneliness but not always, as it was also possible to discern the opposite pattern. It was also made relevant that strong ties such as intimate relations had a high value for the participants. However, also weak-ties, for example belonging to the LGBTQ community, were made significant and can be understood to mitigate the risk of loneliness. The findings contribute to the debate on social relationships for older LGBTQ adults especially on the importance of addressing the issue of different kinds of loneliness and how this affect later life. This will require an accepting social climate and a more competent approach from social services were social workers lead efforts directed at improving service provision and care competencies for the older LGBTQ community. 

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2023.
Keywords [en]
older adults, LGBTQ, loneliness, social relationships
National Category
Social Work
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-193518OAI: oai:DiVA.org:liu-193518DiVA, id: diva2:1754319
Conference
12th ECSWR European Conference for Social Work Research, Milan, Italy 12-14 April, 2023
Available from: 2023-05-03 Created: 2023-05-03 Last updated: 2023-05-10Bibliographically approved

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Gillingsjö, Jenny

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