The research of Levent Altinay (Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship, Oxford Brookes Business School) is tackling the loneliness of elderly and enhancing their social wellbeing.
The loneliness of older people is a significant and growing challenge that has a range of impacts on physical and mental health. Interventions that can increase social connection and prevent or lessen loneliness are mainly delivered through health and social care organisations or the voluntary sector. Evidence for the effectiveness of these interventions is mixed.
Our research takes a different approach and rather explores the potential of the commercial hospitality sector - coffee shops, pubs and restaurants for example – to increase the wellbeing and ameliorate loneliness of older customers. To do so, we will build on research that uses the concept of ‘hospitableness’. This can be defined as a set of characteristics of the hosts - their attitudes and behaviours - that result in positive emotional responses in guests who feel welcomed, safe and cared for.
Our previous research investigating the concept of hospitableness has explored the experiences of migrants in the hospitality industry, patients in hospitals and the loneliness of refugees. Building on this work, our research project will adopt a multidisciplinary approach and investigate the interface between the older peoples’ experience of hospitableness offered by cafes, restaurants and pubs and the social connectedness, subjective wellbeing and loneliness experienced by their older customers.
