From Social Distancing To Social Connection - The GenWell Project's Nationwide Survey Reinforces The Importance Of Human Connection As Canada Transitions To Post-Pandemic Recovery

As Canada enters a post-pandemic world, we all need to reconnect and reestablish our connections with friends, family, coworkers, classmates and neighbours to overcome pandemic related loneliness.

TORONTO, July 22, 2021 /CNW/ - Six-in-ten Canadians are feeling somewhat or much lonelier since the start of the pandemic according to a new survey conducted by The GenWell Project in partnership with the University of Victoria. The Canadian Social Connection Survey is a nationwide survey about human connectedness in the time of COVID-19 and the post-pandemic period provides a number of insights to help better understand the importance of social connections to overcome pandemic-related loneliness, anxieties and burnout.

The scientific study was conducted during the third wave of the pandemic, from April 27 to June 1, 2021, and attracted more than 3,800 participants across Canada.

Some key results reveal:

• 60 per cent of participants reported feeling lonely many times a week.
• Almost half (46 per cent) report that they felt lonely every day.
• The rate of loneliness across all generations is above 45 per cent;
• Gen-Z (those born between 1997 and 2015) report the highest rates of loneliness at 66 per cent;
• The Silent Generation (those born between 1925 and 1945), report a rate of loneliness of 56 per cent;

"Over the past year and a half, we see that loneliness has escalated among Canadians, more so with pandemic-related anxieties and burnout," notes Dr. Kiffer G. Card, social and behavioural epidemiologist with the School of Public Health and Social Policy at the University of Victoria. "As a result, 82 per cent of people who reported being lonely have a low overall life satisfaction. Therefore, developing or maintaining strong social connections is even more imperative as we enter a post-pandemic Canada."

With COVID-19 restrictions easing up across the country amid rising vaccination rates, the survey suggests that establishing or re-establishing social connections can lead to better overall life satisfaction and happiness. The GenWell Project has been educating, empowering and catalyzing Canadians to, proactively, build healthier connection habits since 2016, to improve mental, physical and social health. The GenWell Project sees this data as a call to action for Canadians to not only build new connections but to also re-ignite the connections that were adversely impacted over the course of the pandemic – for their own health or for the health of others.

"The best medicine for people, is people. Social connections have been shown to reduce loneliness, anxiety and depression, strengthen our immune system and self-confidence, help us develop empathy and compassion for others, and increase our chances of living longer by up to 50 per cent, said Pete Bombaci, founder of The GenWell Project "If we all make the effort to connect with others on a daily basis, we can have an impact on our own health and wellness, and that of those we connect with."

The importance of connecting with friends, family, coworkers and neighbours

The Canadian Social Connection Survey examined the patterns of social connection among participants and highlighted the significant degree of social disruption as a result of the COVID 19 pandemic. The results revealed the importance of human connection in combating loneliness, with over 90 per cent of Canadians indicating that they want to spend at least an hour with their friends and family, while 75 per cent indicated they wanted to spend at least an hour with their coworkers and neighbours in a week. Interestingly, the survey also revealed that four-in-ten Canadians wanted more friends, indicating that there is already a strong desire to build more social connection across Canada and The GenWell Project wants to help make those connections happen for all Canadians.

The importance of human connection with these groups were further strengthened as shown by the below results;

Connecting with friends	Compared to those who spent no time with their friends,
	those who spent less than an hour with their friends in the past week were 1.28 times less likely to be lonely those who spent five or more hours with friends in the past week were 1.62 times less likely to be lonely
Connecting with co-workers	Compared to those who spent no time with their co-workers
	those who spent less than an hour with their coworkers in the past week were 1.36 times less likely to be lonely those who spent five or more hours with coworkers in the past week were 1.73 times less likely to be lonely
Connecting with family	Compared to those who spent no time with their family,
	those who spent five or more hours with family in the past week were 1.60 times less likely to be lonely.
Connecting with neighbours	those who spent 1 to 4 hours with neighbours in the past week were 3.03 times less likely to be lonely.  72% of Canadians report that the time spent with neighbours is meaningful and fulfilling

"The findings come at a time when we are taking steps towards a post-pandemic world where our social patterns and routines have been completely disrupted and we need to start building back our social connections as early as possible," noted Pete Bombaci. "We invite all Canadians to join The GenWell Project and our Human Connection Movement as we encourage them take time to make time to foster those human connections in a safe way."

The pandemic has made us all appreciate the role human connection plays in our overall mental, physical and social well-being, and these survey results serve to further underscore that importance.  Over the course of the next few weeks, The GenWell Project will release additional findings from the Canadian Social Connection Survey. To find out more information about the survey results and stay up to date on our latest news and connection tips, please sign-up for our newsletter at www.genwellproject.org and follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

About the Canadian Social Connection Survey (CSCS)
The CSCS is a serial cross-sectional survey with a longitudinal sub-cohort that aims to study the social health and wellbeing of Canadians in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The CSCS is administered by Dr. Kiffer Card at the School of Public Health and Social Policy at the University of Victoria. The CSCS was supported with generous contributions from The GenWell Project, a Global Human Connection Movement that wants to help Canadians and people around the world build healthier connection habits.

Data from wave 1 of the CSCS was collected between April 21, 2021 and June 1, 2021, during the third wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Participants were eligible to participate if they were 16 years of age or older, lived in Canada, were able to complete the survey in English or French, and provided informed consent.

About the The GenWell Project
The GenWell Project, a registered Canadian NFP, is a grassroots Global Human Connection Movement, whose mission is to make the world a happier and healthier place by educating people about the importance of face-to-face social connection as a proactive step we can all take for our health, happiness, and longevity, as well as for those around us.  We share information, research, tips, tools and motivation through our social channels and our website, to help people create healthy connection habits starting today, and we activate around two weekends a year, in the spring and fall, when we want to be the catalyst that gives people permission to reach out and get connected face-to-face with family, friends, neighbours, classmates and colleagues. www.GenWellProject.org

SOURCE The GenWell Project

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