ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Mental Health
Community Activities and Their Association with Social Isolation in Rural Japan
Provisionally accepted
- Hiroshima University, Kasumi Campus, Hiroshima, Japan
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Background: Isolation and subjective feelings of loneliness pose a threat to health, and measures have been taken to address both. However, the decline of communities because of social change has accelerated, and daily support for isolation is lacking. The support offered is not sufficiently effective for isolated individuals, and improvements are needed. This study aimed to identify the characteristics of isolated individuals. Methods: Survey forms were sent to 1500 residents aged ≥20 years residing in Sera Town, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. This study used secondary data from the communication questionnaire responses. The survey items included basic attributes, as well as measures of isolation, subjective feelings of loneliness, and community activities. Isolation was classified using a scale, and associations with participant characteristics were analyzed using the χ2 tests, Kruskal–Wallis tests and Mann–Whitney U tests. A logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the comprehensive relationships between isolation and states. Finally, community activity status was examined specifically among isolated individuals. Results: The analysis included 689 residents who responded to the survey completely. Of these, 203 were classified as isolated and 486 as non-isolated. The analysis revealed significant associations between isolation and health status, life satisfaction, frequency of working, subjective feelings of loneliness, and community activities. In terms of comprehensive relationships, isolation was associated with fewer frequent outings, higher level of subjective feelings of loneliness, and lower participation in community activities. Isolated individuals considered activities such as helping others, other volunteers, and hobbies to be meaningful and expressed a strong desire to participate in them. Conclusion: Isolation suggested to be to associated with frequent outings, subjective feelings of loneliness, and participation in community activities. Isolated individuals had less frequent outings, a high level of subjective feelings of loneliness, and did not participate in community activities. Community activities in which isolated individuals want to participate were suggested to have clear goals such as helping others and hobbies. Our findings suggest to be a promising targets for future interventional and evaluation studies.
Keywords: Community activity, Cross-sectional study, Isolation, Loneliness, Rural area
Received: 02 Sep 2025; Accepted: 30 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Nakaoka, Kawasaki, Yamasaki, Fekede, Shiraishi and Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Hiromi Kawasaki
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