2026-11-26 –, MacCallum Room
Social Network Analysis (SNA) has demonstrated contagion effects across a wide range of behaviours. The Island Study Linking Aging and Neurodegenerative Disease (ISLAND) is an ongoing longitudinal study with over 3000 actively engaged Tasmanians aged 50 and above, who report annually on social engagement and other health behaviours. ISLAND participants who report more social engagement report healthier behaviour across alcohol consumption, smoking, physical activity, cognitive activity, diet, blood pressure, body weight, cholesterol, blood sugar, and diet, with evidence that social engagement is an upstream driver of many of these behaviours. In this study, we aimed to understand participants’ experiences of the relationship between social engagement and other healthy behaviours.
We engaged a purposively sampled subset of ISLAND project participants (n=27, 90% of 30 invitees) in semi-structured interviews, analysed through reflexive thematic analysis. Purposive sampling ensured a wide range of individual characteristics (e.g. gender, education, age), social circumstances (e.g. living alone or cohabiting, working or retired), and social preferences (introversion/extraversion).
At one extreme, some participants experienced health choices as independent agents, with no known social influences impacting their behaviour. At the other extreme, some experienced health choices as highly socially driven or constrained, with health behaviour being dependant on the actions and opinions of others. Most participants located themselves at intermediate points in this continuum: experiencing some influence through knowledge, motivation, and/or behaviour co-participation, while still experiencing autonomy in their final health decisions. Some participants positioned themselves differently when different health behaviours were discussed; for example, dietary choices may be more socially influenced, while choices to attend medical appointments may be more individually determined. Where influence was experienced, a wide range of influential actors were reported, including friends, family members, and animal companions.
This longitudinal cohort provides the opportunity to quantitatively study the role of social influence in prompting a range of healthy behaviours among older adults. The understandings developed in this initial exploratory project may provide the foundation for further exploration using social network analysis.
Dr. Hannah Fair has two overlapping focuses: the role of social networks in dementia risk reduction, and understanding and improving equity in health promotion, particularly in dementia prevention. She explores the role of social networks in transmitting dementia risk information and behaviour, and is increasingly interested in the broader role of social networks in promoting dementia risk reducing behaviour. Her research methods involve both quantitative (statistical modelling, social network analysis) and qualitative (interviews, focus groups, thematic analysis) approaches. Dr. Fair also evaluates online health education programs like the ISLAND project Linking Aging and Neurodegenerative Disease, and the Preventing Dementia Massive Open Online Course, to assessing their impact and reach through mixed-methods research.