K2.7 Neighborhood connection

Perception of neighborhood cohesion

Community belonging is a collection of characteristics and resources that, when combined, enhance the ability of both the individual and society to identify, assess, and solve key problems. Feelings of insecurity and social exclusion have a detrimental effect on health. The importance of neighbors is especially important when offering help with household chores, minor material assistance and socializing. At the same time, numerous studies also link a high level of social cohesion in the neighborhood with an improvement in the health status of the residents. And vice versa – people with a closed private network often have worse physical and mental health, especially when it comes to vulnerable groups of the population such as pensioners, widows, unemployed, disabled, immigrants and others. In people with developed neighborhood connections, researchers note a reduced risk of stroke, cardiovascular events and mortality, higher physical activity, an increased number of smoking cessations, higher flu vaccination and more frequent participation in preventive health examinations. Belonging to a community provides a framework for a social network that can provide assistance to an individual in the face of hardships that occur in his life. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of policies and programs in the field of public health care, it is necessary to qualitatively monitor the indicator of the perception of neighborhood cohesion.

The Neighborly connection indicator shows the share of people aged 15 and over who very easily or easily get neighborhood help when they need it.

Percent (%)

The Neighborly connection indicator is the ratio between the number of respondents who in the EHIS survey answered the question "Can you get help from your neighbors if you need it or if you would need it?" with the answer "Very easy" or "Easy" and the number of all people , who answered this question multiplied by 100 in the survey.

Neighborhood connection

$\frac{The number of people, who answered in the survey, that they get neighborhood help very easily or easily}{The total number of people who answered this question}\times 100$

The indicator for the municipality is calculated on the basis of a model that takes into account the prevalence of neighborhood connectedness (proportion of people who very easily or easily get neighborhood help when they need it?) at the level of the administrative unit and demographic data of the municipality.

EHIS - Health and Healthcare Survey. National Institute of Public Health.

The data is collected periodically, according to the regulation of the European Commission, the implementation of the survey is planned in five-year periods. So far, the survey has been conducted in 2007, 2014 and 2019.

1. ES Kim, I. Kawachi. Perceived neighborhood social cohesion and preventive healthcare use. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 2017. ( http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2017.01.007 )
2. Jerman T. et al.: Strategy for reducing health inequalities in the Ljubljana health region. NIJZ, 2011. ( http://www.nijz.si/sites/www.nijz.si/files/uploaded/strategija_zmanjsevanja_neenakosti_v_zdravju_-_zr_ljubljana.pdf )
3. Filipovič M., Kogovšek T,. Hlebec V. The elderly and their involvement in neighborhood networks. Sociological discussions, XXI (2005), 49/50: 205-221.

The survey includes people aged 15 and over. The survey does not cover the population residing in the institution at the time of the survey. The EHIS survey data are not age standardized.