Healthy and active ageing: social capital in health promotion
Open accessAbstract
Objectives: This paper examines the context of health promotion actions that are focused on/contributing to strengthening social capital by increasing community participation, reciprocal trust and support as the means to achieve better health and more active ageing. Method: The methodology employed was a literature review/research synthesis, and a thematic analysis. Results: Four core themes emerged from the analysis: a) active ageing; b) the relationship between social capital and ageing; c) the importance of social capital in health promotion; and d) policy implications. The role of social capital in health promotion stresses empowerment, intergenerational support, the building of social trust, and the need to tackle loneliness among older adults. The importance of community/social participation emerged from the literature review as a key contributor to the maintenance and promotion of a healthier ageing population. Conclusion: Supporting long-term social capital building within communities can lead to improved public health and well-being for an ageing population.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Social participation through community-based activities has the potential to increase social engagement and enhance mental health among older adults.
“Social participation through community-based activities has the potential to increase social engagement and enhance mental health among older adults [e.g., (27, 29–31)].”
From Telephone-based group mental health support for older adults in central Canada: pilot acceptability and effectiveness findings of The CONNECT Program (2025) · cites this paper as [29]
Cites
Riggins, F. J., & Mitra, S. (1990) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.27-6637 · Cited by 16,590 · see citing works
Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education.
O'Shea, D. W., & Richardson, J. G. (1987) · Contemporary Sociology A Journal of Reviews · doi:10.2307/2069964 · Cited by 15,194 · see citing works
Bourdıeu, P. (2002) · Wiley eBooks · doi:10.1002/9780470755679.ch15 · Cited by 13,987 · see citing works
Gamst, F. C. (1991) · Anthropology of Work Review · doi:10.1525/awr.1991.12.3.19 · Cited by 8,036 · see citing works
International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health
World Health Organization (2021) · PsycTESTS Dataset · doi:10.1037/t76403-000 · Cited by 3,751 · see citing works
Active Ageing: A Policy Framework
Kalache, A., & Gatti, A. (2002) · The Aging Male · doi:10.1080/713604647 · Cited by 1,764 · see citing works
Active Ageing: A Policy Framework
(2002) · The Aging Male · doi:10.1080/tam.5.1.1.37 · Cited by 1,567 · see citing works
F.Marks, D., & Yardley, L. (2004) · SAGE Publications Ltd eBooks · doi:10.4135/9781849209793.n4 · Cited by 1,123 · see citing works
Research Methods for Clinical and Health Psychology
(2003) · International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance · doi:10.1108/ijhcqa.2003.06216dae.006 · Cited by 531 · see citing works
Fried, L. P. (2004) · Journal of Urban Health: Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine · doi:10.1093/jurban/jth094 · Cited by 523 · see citing works
A planning framework for community empowerment goals within health promotion
Laverack, G. (2000) · Health Policy and Planning · doi:10.1093/heapol/15.3.255 · Cited by 417 · see citing works
Effectiveness of Alliances and Partnerships for Health Promotion
Gillies, P. (1998) · Health Promotion International · doi:10.1093/heapro/13.2.99 · Cited by 412 · see citing works
Settings' based health promotion: a review
Whitelaw, S. (2001) · Health Promotion International · doi:10.1093/heapro/16.4.339 · Cited by 381 · see citing works
Social capital as a resource for mental well-being in older people: A systematic review
Nyqvist, F., Forsman, A. K., Giuntoli, G., & Cattan, M. (2012) · Aging & Mental Health · doi:10.1080/13607863.2012.742490 · Cited by 359 · see citing works
Settings for Health Promotion: Linking Theory and Practice
Poland, B. D., Green, L., & Rootman, I. (2000) · Sage eBooks · doi:10.4135/9781452232829 · Cited by 288 · see citing works
Glass, T. A. (2004) · Journal of Heredity · doi:10.1093/jurban/jth096 · Cited by 141 · see citing works
A Concept Analysis of Healthy Aging
Hansen-Kyle, L. L. (2005) · Nursing Forum · doi:10.1111/j.1744-6198.2005.00009.x · Cited by 130 · see citing works
State of World Population 2009
Fund, U. N. P. (2010) · The state of world population/The State of world population · doi:10.18356/d5a97f23-en · Cited by 109 · see citing works
Self-rated Health and Social Capital Among Aging People Across the Urban–Rural Dimension
Nummela, O. P., Sulander, T. T., Karisto, A., & Uutela, A. K. (2009) · International Journal of Behavioral Medicine · doi:10.1007/s12529-008-9027-z · Cited by 66 · see citing works
Social capital, age and religiosity in people who are lonely
Lauder, W., Mummery, K. W., & Sharkey, S. S. (2006) · Journal of Clinical Nursing · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2702.2006.01192.x · Cited by 65 · see citing works
INTERNATIONAL HEALTH CONFERENCE
Boari, D. (1920) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj.1.3095.587 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
Mendoza-Núñez, V. M., Martínez-Maldonado, M. D. L. L., & Correa‐Muñoz, E. (2009) · BMC Geriatrics · doi:10.1186/1471-2318-9-40 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
Intergenerational interaction in health promotion: a qualitative study in Brazil
de Souza, E. M. (2003) · Revista de Saúde Pública · doi:10.1590/s0034-89102003000400011 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
Howard, D., Howard, D., Nieuwenhuijsen, E. R., & Saleeby, P. W. (2008) · Disability and Rehabilitation · doi:10.1080/09638280701800483 · Cited by 43 · see citing works
Berry, H. L. (2008) · Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology · doi:10.1007/s00127-008-0331-3 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
Ecological Aging: The Settings Approach in Aged Living and Care Accommodation
Harris, N., Grootjans, J., & Wenham, K. (2008) · EcoHealth · doi:10.1007/s10393-008-0176-y · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Identifying value indicators and social capital in community health partnerships
Hausman, A. J., Becker, J. A., & Brawer, R. (2005) · Journal of Community Psychology · doi:10.1002/jcop.20078 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Eriksson, M., Dahlgren, L. G., & Emmelin, M. (2009) · Social Theory & Health · doi:10.1057/sth.2009.6 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Olanrewaju, O., Kelly, S. A., Cowan, A., Brayne, C., & Lafortune, L. (2016) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0168614 · Cited by 211 · see citing works
Singing in later life: The anatomy of a community choir
Lamont, A. M., Murray, M., Hale, R., & Wright‐Bevans, K. (2017) · Psychology of Music · doi:10.1177/0305735617715514 · Cited by 139 · see citing works
Struggles of Older Workers at the Labour Market
Krajňáková, E., & Vojtovič, S. (2017) · Economics & Sociology · doi:10.14254/2071-789x.2017/10-1/23 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
Older Women’s Experiences of Aging and Health: An Interpretive Phenomenological Study
Tuohy, D., & Cooney, A. (2019) · Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine · doi:10.1177/2333721419834308 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Jia, X. D., & Xing, H. (2025) · BMC Public Health · doi:10.1186/s12889-025-23411-x · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Lu, W. (2024) · Frontiers in Public Health · doi:10.3389/fpubh.2024.1460558 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
OETZEL, J. G., Hokowhitu, B., Simpson, M. L., Reddy, R., Cameron, M. P., Meha, P., Johnston, K., Nock, S., Greensill, H., Harding, T., et al. (2019) · Journal of Health Communication · doi:10.1080/10810730.2019.1637483 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Qin, Y., Liu, J., Wang, R., Qi, X., Jiang, S., Li, J., Guo, P., & Wu, Q. (2022) · Frontiers in Public Health · doi:10.3389/fpubh.2022.967170 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Reynolds, K. A., Sommer, J., Mackenzie, C. S., & Koven, L. (2022) · Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement · doi:10.1017/s0714980822000150 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Luca, G. D. D., & Lin, X. Y. (2024) · Health Policy · doi:10.1016/j.healthpol.2024.105009 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
OETZEL, J. G., Ruru, S., Zhang, Y., Simpson, M. L., Nock, S., Meha, P., Holmes, K., Clark, M., Adams, H., Akapita, N., et al. (2021) · Frontiers in Public Health · doi:10.3389/fpubh.2021.775545 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Mendoza-Núñez, V. M., Pulido-Castillo, G., Correa‐Muñoz, E., & Rosado-Pérez, J. (2022) · Healthcare · doi:10.3390/healthcare10030466 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Lee, H., Nam, H. K., Zhao, B., Jeong, H. R., Lim, S., Chun, A., Kim, M. K., Kim, D. H., Aung, M. N., Koyanagi, Y., et al. (2024) · Digital Health · doi:10.1177/20552076241226958 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
OETZEL, J. G., Zhang, Y., Nock, S., Meha, P., Huriwaka, H., Vercoe, M., Tahu, T., Urlich, J. L., Warbrick, R., Brown, G., et al. (2023) · Frontiers in Public Health · doi:10.3389/fpubh.2023.1307685 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Active Ageing in Spain: Leisure, Community Participation and Quality of Life
Rodríguez, V. R., Rojo‐Pérez, F., & Fernández‐Mayoralas, G. (2018) · International handbooks of quality-of-life · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-75529-8_14 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Westwood, S., & Daly, M. E. (2016) · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Analyzing the Association of Social Capital and Sleep Quality of the Elderly Community
Mohammadi, M., Mohammadnabizadeh, S., Varmaghani, M., Moodi, M., Shrifi, F., Shirazinia, M., Fakhrzadeh, H., Payab, M., Khorashadizadeh, M., & Naderimagham, S. (2025) · Health Science Reports · doi:10.1002/hsr2.70766 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Reynolds, K. A. A., Kudar, K., Joshi, J., Christianson, I., Davidson, D., Gopinath, G., Koven, L., Mackenzie, C., Miller, S., & Newall, N. (2025) · Frontiers in Public Health · doi:10.3389/fpubh.2025.1541583 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Kudar, K., Gopinath, G., Ross, A., Balshaw, R. F., Chau, E., Christianson, I., Koven, L., Mackenzie, C. S., Miller, S. A., Newall, N. E. G., et al. (2025) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0336031 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Fan, C., Dong, Z., Wang, Y., Zhang, L., Gao, R., Yang, M., & Guo, L. (2026) · Archives of Public Health · doi:10.1186/s13690-026-01910-6 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
GenerationACTIVE: Creating Healthier Communities Two Generations at a Time
Thiel, J., & Manecke, M. (2018) · UND Scholarly Commons (University of North Dakota)
أثر رأس المال الاجتماعى على صحة المرأة الریفیة والحضریة بحث میدانى مقارن فى محافظة أسیوط
أحمد, س. م. ع. م. (2017) · حوليات أداب عين شمس · doi:10.21608/aafu.2017.29788
Buhendwa, M., Sliep, Y., Mchunu, G. G., & Nxumalo, C. T. (2022) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph20010618
A collaborative case study of autistic and non-autistic capital shared within a circle of support
MacLeod, A., & Johnston, P. (2025) · Disability & Society · doi:10.1080/09687599.2025.2579835
Development and Validation of a Health-Related Social Capital Instrument for Older People
Tan, F., Song, S., & Feng, Z. (2026) · Clinical Interventions in Aging · doi:10.2147/cia.s568696
- Authors
- Koutsogeorgou, E., Davies, J. K., Aranda, K., Zissi, A., Chatzikou, M., Cerniauskaite, M., Quintas, R., Raggi, A., & Leonardi, M.
- Affiliations
- Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Neurologico Carlo Besta (IT)
- University of Brighton (GB)
- University of the Aegean (GR)
- School of Pedagogical and Technological Education (GR)
- Neurological Institute Carlo Besta IRCCS Foundation, Italy
- Venue
- Health Education Journal
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2013-11-18
- Volume
- 73
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 627-641
- ISSN
- 0017-8969 (ISSN-L)
- 1748-8176
- OpenAlex
- W2130882898
- Cited by
- 26
- References
- 27
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 1 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 2
- FWCI
- 1.20
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- Locations
- Health Education Journal (publishedVersion)
- University of Brighton Repository (University of Brighton) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- University of Brighton Repository (University of Brighton) (submittedVersion)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- University Of Wales Trinity Saint David Research Repository (University of Wales Trinity Saint David) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Aging, Elder Care, and Social Issues
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Community Health and Development
- Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
- Keywords
- social capital, active ageing, health promotion, community participation, mutual trust, social support, older adults, loneliness, intergenerational support, empowerment, population aging, public health policy
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
