Understanding the Social Organization of Loneliness Among Older Adults in Singapore – Critical Reflections from the Field

The World Health Organization has recognized loneliness as a global public health concern. Numerous studies have documented its deleterious effects on older people’s longevity, physical and psychological well-being, and quality of life. While the risk factors, outcomes, and interventions to address loneliness are well-established, there remains limited inquiry into the organizational, institutional, and socio-political processes associated with the assessment, interpretation, and management of loneliness among older adults. To understand the complexity of these processes, there is a need to extend a critical lens to the empirical context of the institutional relations of care and how they play out in the everyday experiences of older adults and providers. Guided by the framework of Institutional Ethnography (IE), this study seeks to explicate how older adults’ everyday practices and experiences of loneliness are linked to broader social relations and texts in Singapore. These institutional relations are central to the organization of how loneliness is understood and experienced, its mitigation strategies, and interpersonal relations between healthcare providers and older adults in the context of care provision. Through an IE approach, we can examine how dominant discourses of loneliness may create the conditions for the continued manifestations of loneliness and health/social inequities among particular groups of older adults. Drawing on the experiences of conceptualizing an IE proposal and commencement of fieldwork, this proposal will present: (1) methodological considerations and challenges in designing data generation strategies (e.g., interviews, observations) to investigate the phenomenon of loneliness among older adults; (2) issues encountered in the institutional ethics review process; and (3) preliminary insights into the data generation process and gaining access to the field. This presentation aims to share critical reflections and lessons learnt from designing an IE inquiry and contribute to existing conversations on the challenges (and possibilities) of maintaining theoretical and methodological congruence in IE research.