Editorial
| Pages | 1-2 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JPMH-01-2018-0002 |
| Published date | 19 March 2018 |
| Date | 19 March 2018 |
| Author | Woody Caan |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Mental health,Public mental health |
Woody Caan
The motto of the Jo Cox Foundation is “Combatting loneliness one conversation at a time”
(www.jocoxloneliness.org/). Jo Cox was assassinated while a Member of Parliament by a
right-wing fanatic, but her work on social inclusion and participation for about nine million lonely
people in the UK continues. The foundation’s latest report on loneliness has just been welcomed
by Prime Minister Theresa May, who promised “to take action”to address loneliness
(Walker, 2018). Both objective social isolation and subjective feelings of being alone are
associated with raised all-cause mortality (Leigh-Hunt et al., 2017). Various aspects of loneliness
are related to poor mental health or suicide, with the most consistent relationship being between
social isolation and depression (Leigh-Hunt et al., 2017).
The good news today is that the present Minister for Sport and Civil Society, Tracey Crouch, has
been appointed the first Minister for Loneliness. Furthermore, she has announced a multi-million
pound fund that would help her pull together existing work being carried out on loneliness,
to create a framework for intervention in the future (BBC News, 2018). A promising start is that
she recognises the prevalence of loneliness at all ages (although the appearance can differ in
childhood, early adulthood or old age). I hope that we, in the research community, will help the
new Minister develop evidence-based practice, within her framework initiative.
This year a new, inter-agency UK Prevention Research Partnership has begun. A good area of
research might be how “to take action”preventing depression among lonely people. Possible
areas for researchmight either be building connectionsto new social networks or by showinghow
people belong (and are valued within) their community. The experience of Burls and Caan (2004)
with the community phenomenon of “embracement”is that groups of vulnerable people benefit
from opportunitiesfor “bottom up”socialinclusion. One of Crouch’s suggestionsis to develop new
architectural approaches to housing, making social connection easier for older people.
Experiences of rejection or victimisation can amplify loneliness. In this issue of the JPMH, Alang
reports on depression in an American population that frequently experiences discrimination.
In preventing or overcoming depression, one trusted and supportive person can make a
difference. In this issue, Bishop et al. review mental health coaching. In general, working
alongside a coach who understands “where you are coming from”may be a viable, non-clinical
intervention. Social and economic policy clearly impacts on loneliness. I look forward hopefully to
future work by the new NIHR Mental Health Policy Research Unit in London: it is led by a Member
of our Editorial Board, the Economist Paul McCrone.
In terms of PreventionResearch, interest is growing in severalprofessional areas, for example,the
Faculty of Public Health supports a growing public mental health group (www.fph.org.uk/public_
mental_health_special_interest_group)and the Royal College of Psychiatristshosts a public mental
health network (www.rcpsych.ac.uk/policyandparliamentary/publicmentalhealth.aspx).
Both mental health groups have established collaborations on developing policy, with statutory
bodies like Public Health England and charities like the Mental Health Foundation. A memorable
moment in 2017 was when the Association of Directors of Public Health signed the Prevention
Concordat (www.adph.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/ADPH-Policy-Position-Mental-
Health.pdf). Expertise in both collaboration and leadership will be vital, to succeed in preventing
mental illness.
As well as changes in practice to prevent mental illness (Public Health England, 2017),
new connections between higher education and practice will be needed to improve research on
prevention, at the population level. Last week I visited the new Department of Health Policy at
DOI 10.1108/JPMH-01-2018-0002 VOL. 17 NO. 1 2018, pp. 1-2, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1746-5729
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JOURNAL OF PUBLIC MENTALHEALTH
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Editorial
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