A wee scotch measure

1. A wee scotch measure Using the Harmonised Question Set for social capital on the island of Islay in Scotland

2. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Social capital - networks together with shared norms, values and understandings that facilitate co-operation within or among groups (Cote and Healy, 2001, p. 41)

3. High levels of social capital • are present in marginalised communities characterised by social and environmental isolation from other communities (Coleman, 1998) • Perception that social capital is high in the Atlantic isles in Scotland (Argyll and Bute Council, 2004)

4. Thick trust • Essential ingredient of mechanical solidarity • Intensive daily contact between people of same tribe, class or ethnic background • Western analogues of small homogeneous and isolated communities in rural peripheries or on remote islands (Newton, 1997)

5. Central belt

6. The research • UK policy to involve the public in the design and delivery of healthcare • action research to form a community team • translate the research evidence for prevention of falls in older people into practice • influence of social capital in sharing and spread of information about measures to prevent falls across an island community

7. Where stocks of social capital are high • high levels of trust • positive social norms • overlapping and diverse horizontal networks • communication and exchange of information • ideas and practical help (Gillies, 1998)

8. Social capital and health Linked by 4 mechanisms • making information available to community members • impacting social norms • enhancing the healthcare services and their accessibility in a community • offering psychosocial support networks Scheffler and Brown (2008)

9. How to get to Islay

12. Population 1831 Census shows a population of 15,000 This is now 3, 400

13. Preliminary fieldwork • Measure social capital in the over 65’s on Islay • Compare to national indicators in same age group • Social capital differs in different age groups and variables should be compared in like groups (Morgan and Swann, 2004)

14. General Household Survey 2005 • Harmonised Question Set for Social Capital used as a trailer • “to describe the national picture of social capital and provide a baseline for comparisons into the future and against local studies” http://www.ons.gov.uk/about-statistics/user-guidance/sc-guide/the-social-capital-project/index.html accessed 2006 http://www.esds.ac.uk/government/ghs/

15. Five key dimensions • views about the local area (e.g. satisfaction with living in the area, problems in the area, fear of crime) • civic participation (e.g. propensity to vote, action on local and national issues) • social networks and support (e.g. contact with friends and relatives) • social participation (e.g. involvement in groups and voluntary activities) • reciprocity and trust (e.g. trusting other people, trust in the courts or police

16. Chi-square goodness of fit test Hypothesis - there is no difference between the sample of over 65’s on Islay and the national sample • Checked distribution of Islay results n=56 to national results n= 2116 • Significance level of α = 5% • p-value < 0.001 significant differences demonstrated

17. Views about the local area

18. Views about the local area • Social capital can be measured through satisfaction with an area as a place to live (Coulthard et al., 2001) • Trusting social relationships improve the overall quality of life for communities (Johnston and Percy-Smith, 2003)

19. Problems in the area/fear of crime • Islay results did not demonstrate any statistical significance compared to national results

21. Civic Participation • Islay respondents believed that they had greater influence over local decisions 57% Islay : 25% national Civic trust – or trust in local institutions is a marker of social capital and is much higher in the Islay sample

22. CivicParticipation

23. Social networks • Social networks and contact of various kinds with family, friends or neighbours • type and strength of networks in the neighbourhood • among the easier components of social capital to measure (Blaxter, 2004)

24. Social networks • Social networks refer to the ties between individuals or groups and are the “structural” element of social capital (Baum and Ziersch, 2003) • Measured by asking questions about either actual or hypothetical ‘helping’, ‘relying on’, borrowing or lending, asking for assistance in various specific circumstances.

25. Speak to relatives on the phone

26. Social contact Typically this would done as a single test rather than a series of tests of proportions. No significant difference between the national results and the Islay results in a number of areas • speaking to relatives on the phone • speaking to friends on the phone • meeting people

27. Serious personal crisis • How many people could you ask for help? • Islay respondents ‘could ask the whole village for help’

28. High level of community connections • Linked to positive health outcomes associated with a reduced incidence of mental illness and better self-assessed health (Pevalin and Rose, 2000)

29. Giving and receiving help Islay results significantly different • twice as much unpaid help as national respondents • 36% Islay reported that they had received ‘emotional support’ compared to 9% national

30. Unpaid help given outside household

31. Unpaid help received

32. Social Participation • Measured by attendance at formal groups • No significant difference • Communitarian approach to measurement

33. Trust and reciprocity • When there is generalised trust in a geographic community individuals display reciprocity – doing something for someone else with no immediate expectation of return but trusting that favours will be passed onto others in the community. Reciprocity is often generalised to strangers.

34. Neighbourhood trust

35. Lost wallet

36. Halpern 2005 Defines social capital as “everyday networks including the social customs and bonds that define them and keep them together”

37. Popay 2000 Conceptualises social capital as a • Dynamic process • Close and compelling links between people and the places they live in • Generated or used at the interface between people and places