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Doing and feeling together in older age: self-worth and belonging through social creative activities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 November 2021

Emma H. Wood Open the ORCID record for Emma H. Wood [Opens in a new window] ,
Allan Jepson Open the ORCID record for Allan Jepson [Opens in a new window]  and
Raphaela Stadler
Emma H. Wood*
Affiliation:
School of Events, Tourism and Hospitality Management, Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, UK
Allan Jepson
Affiliation:
Marketing and Enterprise Department, Hertfordshire Business School, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, UK
Raphaela Stadler
Affiliation:
Marketing and Enterprise Department, Hertfordshire Business School, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, UK
*
*Corresponding author. Email: e.wood@leedsbeckett.ac.uk
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Abstract

The potential for art activities to help in alleviating loneliness is explored through a focus on older women's regular attendance at creative social activities. We apply the concept of perceived emotional synchrony to understand how weekly craft group sessions enable feelings of belonging and self-worth to develop in older women. Using a multi-site six-month study of 62 women aged 70+ attending social creative activities, our multi-stage research design captures the experiences of these women through observation and narrative group discussions held weekly. Our findings show that feelings of belonging and self-worth developed over a relatively short time. In particular, social integration and identity fusion were found to occur as a result of the emotional synchrony engendered via a regular shared activity, out of the home, and requiring some challenge and creativity. We propose a virtuous cycle model to explain the value in such activities and discuss the wider implications for wellbeing in older age. Perceived emotional synchrony has not been used before to explore the mechanisms through which social creative activities form lasting benefits for older women. Our research highlights the importance of feeling at one with others in improving feelings of belonging and self-worth and indicates how a variety of social creative experiences could be designed to enable this.

Keywords

emotional synchronybelongingself-wortholder womencreative activities
Type
Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 43 , Issue 9 , September 2023 , pp. 2190 - 2210
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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