Connections Matter: Tackling Loneliness in Australian Youth

The Groundswell Foundation brings together expertise from diverse perspectives on the topic of loneliness. The release of our Connections Matter (2022) report kickstarted our work to advance the understanding of loneliness and highlighted innovative initiatives to build social connections. We have been particularly vocal about the burning platform to address loneliness in young people – who sit at the nexus of coalescing trends that make building in-person connections more challenging.

This latest research project provides an important contribution to the body of knowledge about loneliness, and insight on how to design and promote loneliness interventions for young people. Importantly, the research has sharpened the Groundswell Foundation’s investment thesis to provide financial support for the most impactful initiatives.

We are grateful to Professor Brock Bastian for his professionalism and expertise as the lead partner in undertaking this research. Utilising best practice survey techniques and analysis, Brock has:

1. assembled a comprehensive list of available interventions that young people currently access to reduce loneliness

2. surveyed over 2000 young people to assess activity preferences and expectations of those activities to reduce loneliness

3. analysed the survey results to reveal key insights around the most (and least) promising initiatives for different demographic sub-groups.

   
   

This research was made possible through the generous support of The Fred P Archer Charitable Trust. We hope policy-makers and practitioners find immediate value in this research. Our future depends on what we do today.

Access the complete report:

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