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Mental health impact of social capital interventions: a systematic review
Open accessAbstract
Purpose Mental disorders are a major contributor to the global burden of disease and disability, and can be extremely costly at both individual and community level. Social capital, (SC) defined as an individual's social relationships and participation in community networks, may lower the risk of mental disorders while increasing resilience capacity, adaptation and recovery. SC interventions may be a cost-effective way of preventing and ameliorating these conditions. However, the impact of these SC interventions on mental health still needs research.Methods We conducted a systematic review of SC-based interventions to investigate their effect on mental health outcomes from controlled, quasi-experimental studies or pilot trials. We searched twelve academic databases, three clinical trials registries, hand-searched references and contacted field experts. Studies' quality was assessed with the Cochrane Risk of Bias tools for randomized and non-randomized studies.Results Seven studies were included in the review, published between 2006 and 2016. There was substantial heterogeneity in the definitions of both SC and mental disorders among the studies, preventing us from calculating pooled effect sizes. The interventions included community engagement and educative programs, cognitive processing therapy and sociotherapy for trauma survivors, and neighbourhood projects.Conclusions There are paucity of SC interventions investigating the effect on mental health outcomes. This study showed that both SC scores and mental health outcomes improved over time but there was little evidence of benefit compared to control groups in the long term. Further high-quality trials are needed, especially among adverse populations to assess sustainability of effect.
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“Supporting this suggestion, recent reviews have shown that loneliness interventions informed by a social identity approach are particularly promising (Flores et al., 2018;Steffens et al., 2021).”
From Acceptability and Feasibility of an Intervention to Enhance Social Group Belonging: Evidence From Three Trials of Groups 4 Health (2022) · cites this paper as Flores et al., 2018
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Metadata
- Authors
- Flores, E. C., Fuhr, D. C., Bayer, A. M., Lescano, A. G., Thorogood, N., & Simms, V.
- Affiliations
- Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia (PE)
- London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (GB)
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- Corresponding author
- Flores, Elaine C.
- Venue
- Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology
- Published
- 2017-12-12
- Volume
- 53
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 107-119
- ISSN
- 0933-7954 (ISSN-L)
- 1433-9285
- PMC
- PMC6040224
- OpenAlex
- W2772635566
- Cited by
- 135
- References
- 84
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 22 · 2023: 18 · 2022: 36 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 5
- FWCI
- 2.22
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- europepmc.org
- Locations
- Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- LSHTM Research Online (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine) (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Fogarty International Center (US) (2D43 TW007393-06)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social Capital and Networks
- Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Community Health and Development
- Keywords
- social capital, mental health interventions, mental illness, community participation, cognitive processing therapy, trauma survivors, sociotherapy, resilience, social networks, cost-effectiveness
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Mental Disorders, Clinical Trials as Topic, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Psychotherapy, Outcome Assessment, Health Care, Cost of Illness, Young Adult, Social Participation, Social Capital
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