Social connection is a latent and multidimensional construct. Although defined in various ways depending on different goals and multi-disciplinary research approaches, a consensus has emerged that social connection cannot be quantified or directly observed through a single measure or experience. 

There are existing measurements related to social connection and dimensions of it however, many of these measurements are context-specific, inconsistently applied, focused on only one aspect of social connection, or are seen as problematic for translation to practice. As such, while “positive social connections can bolster social well-being and may protect against a wide range of health risks”, both academics and industry lack a consistent, conceptually relevant, and methodologically robust tool that can be applied to assess the multiple dimensions of social connection and understand the relationship of social connection with outcome measures. 

This toolkit provides an overview of social connection and describes a process of measurement development based on multiple data collections from 2021 to 2024 with nationally representative Australian population samples.

Overall, this toolkit will allow practitioners to:

• Understand the dimensions of social connection and how social connection relates to outcomes of personal wellbeing,
  satisfaction with life, and resilience. 
• Deploy the measurement tool via short, medium, and long form versions of the Social Innovation Research Institute's Social Connection Measurement (SIRI-SCM).
• Compare the average results from their own data collection to results from nationally representative samples.