Tackling Youth Loneliness in Urban Areas: Measuring feasibility, acceptability, and benefits of a community-based intervention: Study protocol

Tackling Youth Loneliness in Urban Areas: Measuring feasibility, acceptability, and benefits of a community-based intervention: Study protocol | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Tackling Youth Loneliness in Urban Areas: Measuring feasibility, acceptability, and benefits of a community-based intervention: Study protocol Nia Morrish, Catarina Duarte, Amilah Niaz, David Gradon, Antonieta Medina-Lara, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6603530/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 4 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Background: Loneliness is associated with adverse mental and physical health outcomes. Most interventions are aimed at older adults even though young adults, including those of working-age, have been identified as being at-risk for persistent loneliness. This study aims to formatively evaluate a new community-based social interaction intervention, as well as the feasibility of conducting a randomised controlled trial of this intervention for evaluation purposes. ‘The Great Friendship Project’ (TGFP) is designed to tackle loneliness for young and working-age adults by encouraging social interaction and connections. Further aims are to determine the cost and potential effect of TGFP. Methods: In this mixed-methods randomised feasibility study with nested qualitative evaluation, 70 participants will be randomly allocated to the community-based intervention over 12 weeks (n=35) or to the wait-list control group (n=35). The intervention consists of weekly community social activities with the aim of reducing loneliness . For both groups, socio-demographic characteristics, measures of loneliness (3- and 20-item UCLA), well-being (SWEMWBS), capability (ICECAP-A), and health-related quality of life (EQ-5D-5L), as well as healthcare resource utilisation (CSRI), will be collected at baseline, end of the intervention (12 weeks), and 6 weeks post-intervention (18 weeks). Feasibility data of being recruited into the study, randomised, and retained will be gathered from both groups across the assessment points. The acceptability of TGFP will be explored through a qualitative interview with intervention participants (n=15-20) 6 weeks post-intervention. Discussion: Our findings will primarily inform a) the acceptability of a community-based loneliness intervention for young adults and b) the design and delivery of future research that will aim to evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of TGFP intervention using late-stage trial designs. Effective and cost-effective interventions can lead to improved services and support systems to help young adults manage loneliness, improve related physical and mental health outcomes, reduce health care utilisation, and foster a sense of belonging within the community. Trial registration: NCT06805136, 31/01/2025 Loneliness young adults social interaction community intervention urban feasibility acceptability Full Text Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Reviewers agreed at journal 21 Sep, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 10 Sep, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 22 May, 2025 First submitted to journal 19 May, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6603530","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":513257787,"identity":"e3231f34-4059-4e91-8e7a-4a0c90ffcdf6","order_by":0,"name":"Nia Morrish","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Exeter","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Nia","middleName":"","lastName":"Morrish","suffix":""},{"id":513257788,"identity":"87ff0b7b-9e75-4b43-9b2a-b11edb320006","order_by":1,"name":"Catarina 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