TY - JOUR
T1 - Experiences of connectedness and mental wellbeing in the Scottish islands
AU - Heaton, Janet
N1 - © 2023 The Author. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Funding Information: The mapping review that formed the basis of this work was funded by the Scottish Government's Healthy Island Fund (HIF) and carried out in association with the Scottish Rural Health Partnership (SRHP). Publisher Copyright: © 202
PY - 2023/11/22
Y1 - 2023/11/22
N2 - Having a sense of connection with people and belonging to place are important for mental wellbeing. These dimensions of connectedness are often studied separately, using different theoretical frameworks, such as social capital and topophilia. Based on a mapping review of the literature, this paper aims to examine the available evidence on how mental health and wellbeing has been influenced by people’s experiences of different di- mensions of connectedness in the population of the Scottish islands. The findings show the importance of people having a sense of connection not only to communities present and past, but also to the land, and to the natural environment. They also show how experiences of these different facets of connectedness vary between social groups and shift over time, and how they are sustained through social practices in different places and spaces of interaction on the islands. Reflecting on these findings, the paper considers the strengths and limits of existing approaches. It suggests that there may be a value in using more integrated and context-sensitive approaches in future, to better understand the intersections between different dimensions of connectedness and how they contribute to overall mental wellbeing in given populations and places.
AB - Having a sense of connection with people and belonging to place are important for mental wellbeing. These dimensions of connectedness are often studied separately, using different theoretical frameworks, such as social capital and topophilia. Based on a mapping review of the literature, this paper aims to examine the available evidence on how mental health and wellbeing has been influenced by people’s experiences of different di- mensions of connectedness in the population of the Scottish islands. The findings show the importance of people having a sense of connection not only to communities present and past, but also to the land, and to the natural environment. They also show how experiences of these different facets of connectedness vary between social groups and shift over time, and how they are sustained through social practices in different places and spaces of interaction on the islands. Reflecting on these findings, the paper considers the strengths and limits of existing approaches. It suggests that there may be a value in using more integrated and context-sensitive approaches in future, to better understand the intersections between different dimensions of connectedness and how they contribute to overall mental wellbeing in given populations and places.
KW - Mapping review
KW - Mental health
KW - Natural capital
KW - Scotland
KW - Social capital
KW - Social connectedness
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U2 - 10.1016/j.wss.2023.100181
DO - 10.1016/j.wss.2023.100181
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85178007754
SN - 2666-5581
VL - 5
JO - Wellbeing, Space and Society
JF - Wellbeing, Space and Society
M1 - 100181
ER -