Researchers from UNSW Sydney’s Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA) have just released a remarkable piece of work on the benefits of social wellbeing – and the implications for people with cognitive decline, like dementia, are particularly interesting.
In the context of this research, a social health intervention can be defined as anything that helps get someone out there and interacting with other people around them.
The authors of the paper believe that because neurocognitive disorders are generally associated with poorer levels of social support, loneliness and greater social isolation, positive social wellness interventions can make a big difference.
The paper’s lead author, Dr Suraj Samtani, says part of what makes this paper so important is the fact the previous studies focused on the effect of social health interventions on healthy adults.
“Also, most interventions for people living with dementia focus on improving cognitive function or physical health, with social wellbeing of these people often neglected,” he adds.
The study found social interventions like music or dance groups significantly improved the sense of social participation and belonging for people living with cognitive illnesses.
While conceding more research is required, Dr Samtani says the implications are exciting.
“We certainly discovered that both music groups and dance groups showed promising results for improvements in social health of participants,” he said.
Makes sense to us!
