Windows of opportunity: prevention and early intervention in dementia

Interventions: Building social capital

Social Capital – Networks of friends, neighbours and colleagues and the values and trust that people share which help them to work together for collective benefits or shared goals (Haezewindt P, 2003).

The more that people work together for the good of a community, the more social capital is generated and the easier it becomes to work together.

Communities with strong social capital often have the characteristics below (Campbell C ,1999):

• People in the community have a strong sense of obligation to help others.
• People trust each other and have positive attitudes towards community resources.
• People are more confident that they will be helped if in need.
• Presence of voluntary organisations that are strongly networked with statutory services.

Case studies

Now explore a series of case studies by clicking on the link below.