Lonely Care: How Is Loneliness Implicated in Relationships of Care in Chronic Illness

Living with chronic conditions can be extremely lonely but how such loneliness is implicated in relationships of being cared for or providing care is less well known. While some researchers have explored loneliness for people who experience chronic ill-health, with some attention to those around them, particularly their informal carers, less explored is how loneliness emerges and/or flows within carer and/or cared-for relationships. Drawing on Mol’s work on the logic of care, and the sociology of affective relations, we examine how loneliness is relational for people with chronic conditions and those who support them. Using data from qualitative interviews with people with chronic conditions experiencing loneliness and those who care for them, our analysis reveals the various interdependencies and moral expectations within these care relationships that are implicated in experiences of loneliness. Findings reveal how fear of being a burden on others, expectations to ‘fix’ loneliness (in themselves or in the other person), and discomfort talking about loneliness circulate within these care relationships, illuminating similarities and differences across different kinds of care relationships (e.g. child/parent, intimate partner, siblings). We argue for the importance of understanding and responding to loneliness as relational and co-created, and discuss the wider implications for the care economy, and care societies.