By Amrita Bhowmick
Chief Community Officer
Health Union

Social connectivity isn’t just essential for our well-being – human beings rely on this connectivity and cooperation for survival and evolution as a species. Unfortunately, people are reporting higher rates of loneliness than ever before. Nearly half of Americans report feeling lonely, with 22% feeling lonely and socially isolated all the time. Not surprisingly, early data suggests that the pandemic worsened this “loneliness epidemic.” Unfortunately, social isolation and loneliness can have a significant impact on health outcomes, notably on morbidity and mortality. In fact, the negative effects of social isolation can be comparable to those associated with smoking 15 cigarettes per day, increasing risk of premature death.

While both loneliness and social isolation can negatively impact health outcomes, it is important to understand the differences between the two. Social isolation is defined as having fewer than six confidants, no spouse, and no group affiliations; loneliness, on the other hand, is more subjective with experts defining it as the gap between the level of social connectedness you wish to have and the level you actually have. With this understanding, one can picture how people who may not appear to be isolated still feel unhealthy levels of loneliness. Individuals living with chronic health conditions are often disproportionately affected by both social isolation and loneliness.

Health Union creates and cultivates online health communities with information, validation and support that meet people where they are in their health journey. Health Union’s approach to community, which engages people in meaningful interactions, has been proven to show improvement in health outcomes. These communities are built by community members for community members, with health leaders (e.g., patient leaders and healthcare professionals) as a driving force behind all activity. The contributions of these health leaders play a critical role in helping combat the loneliness and social isolation for individuals impacted by serious health conditions.

Learning Communities Drive Insights and Innovation 

However, the impact goes well beyond individual interactions. Our model of facilitating engagement supports social learning; it creates not just communities, but communities of practice (CoP), defined as “groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly.” These CoPs are a method by which to 1) provide social support, 2) create discourse and evaluation around tacit, or experiential, knowledge, and 3) foster innovation.

The supportive environment and culture of learning is continuously cultivated through the combined efforts of our community managers and health leaders. The collective knowledge within our unique team approach can have a tremendous impact on the way we view and manage health conditions – identifying critical, and frequently overlooked, elements of the patient experience.

Through thoughtful facilitation, community members become more aware of their tacit knowledge, make sense of this knowledge, and become more confident in its value. Their confidence leads to an increased willingness to share and, in turn, encourages others to do the same.

Most importantly, our community members are provided with a range of methods by which they can choose to engage, allowing them to self-select the pathways that are most aligned to their needs and interests. Not only do the meaningful interactions within these learning communities encourage the cultivation and sharing of knowledge, but also offer ways for individuals to apply this knowledge in practice.