Understanding everyday help and support

It is part of JRF’s Risk, Trust and Relationships programme, and found that:

1. Small acts of help, support and kindness were often barely noticed, but had fundamental consequences for well-being
2. The physical characteristics of residential and public spaces shaped everyday help and support by creating and restricting opportunities for engagement.
3. Individual circumstances and life events (e.g. parenting, ill health, retirement) created needs for informal help and support, but also ways of potentially meeting those needs.

The research, by a team from ScotCen Social Research and Edinburgh University, explored experiences of everyday help and support in three diverse areas in and around Glasgow – Maryhill, Bearsden and Hillhead.

For more information about how the research was carried out, see our programme paper.