Does a Circling programme reduce loneliness or build closeness more than an active control?
No randomised trial of Circling or Authentic Relating exists. Trials of structured partner practices show the design is feasible and the outcomes measurable.
Builds on five works
The claim most often made for Circling, that it builds connection, has never been tested against a comparison group. The direct evidence is one ethnography and two student theses.
Matthaeus et al. (2024) randomised 253 adults to ten weeks of online partner practice, mindfulness training or a waitlist. Partner practice reduced loneliness against the waitlist, but beat mindfulness only on momentary loneliness. Kok & Singer (2017) found that closeness grew with partner exercises over a nine-month training. Gärdenfors & Jönsson (2022) measured a single Authentic Relating weekend before and after.
Randomise adults to a multi-week Circling programme, an active control matched for time and group contact (such as structured small-group discussion), or a waitlist. Pre-register loneliness and closeness as primary outcomes, with a follow-up at three months.
People who seek out relational practices expect to benefit, so an active control and measured expectations matter. Facilitator skill varies widely and should be recorded.
Cautions: Studied by its developers · Commercial interest · Same study as another entry · Self-report only · No later follow-up
Ten weeks of online partner practice (Affect Dyads) reduced loneliness compared with a waitlist. Against mindfulness training, the advantage showed only in momentary, everyday loneliness.
Cautions: Studied by its developers · No later follow-up
In a nine-month contemplative training, structured partner exercises engaged people as well as solitary meditation did, and their sense of social closeness grew.
Cautions: Small sample · Self-selected participants · Self-report only
After a two-day Authentic Relating course, participants felt markedly closer to a fellow participant. Ratings of a close friend who hadn’t attended didn’t change two to four weeks later.
Cautions: Self-report only · No later follow-up
Pairs of strangers who took turns asking progressively more personal questions felt closer afterwards than pairs who made small talk. This is the research behind the “36 questions”.
Cautions: Studied by its developers · Self-report only
A trial found that Groups 4 Health reduced reported loneliness and social anxiety more than usual care by the two-month follow-up.