Decreasing Loneliness in Older Adults

Tel Aviv University74 enrolled

Overview

The purposes of this study are: (1) decrease loneliness and social isolation and increase social competence and social integration of older adults experiencing loneliness; (2) examine an intervention process grounded in a theoretical model that was developed in a previous study. The intervention process is tailored to the participants' barriers and abilities, and includes up to 10 personal meetings with an activities counselor and several group meetings.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Enrollment

Conditions

Loneliness Social Isolation

Interventions

I-SOCIAL interventionBEHAVIORAL

The I-SOCIAL intervention is based on findings from Cohen-Mansfield and Parpura-Gill (2007), which highlighted the important role of barriers in contributing to loneliness in older persons. These barriers include a perceived lack of opportunities for social contacts, low social self-efficacy, and health and mobility difficulties. The intervention includes: (1) identifying the barriers for the specific person; (2) up to 10 meetings with an activities counselor. The meetings include discussions concerning options for social contacts and use of techniques and resources to tackle the barriers; and (3) group meetings of participants and the activities counselors in order to provide a concrete social event and as a venue to discuss barriers and ways to address them.

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 65 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * age 65 or over * residing in the Tel Aviv region Exclusion Criteria: * having known mental illness including schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder, and dementia

Locations (1)

Tel-Aviv University

Tel Aviv, Israel

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Change in Loneliness

Loneliness will be assessed via several measures: (a) Frequency of loneliness will be measured via one item ("How often would you say you feel lonely?"; (Mullins, Woodland, \& Putnam, 1990) on a 6-point scale from "never" (1) to "several times an hour" (6); (b) The UCLA Loneliness Scale- 8 items (ULS-8; (Hays \& DiMatteo, 1987). Each item is rated on a 5-point scale from "not at all" (1) to "to a great extent" (5), with a higher score indicating more loneliness. Based on experience from another study (Cohen-Mansfield et al., 2013) one item ("I am unhappy being so withdrawn") was replaced with two items ("I feel physically distant from other people"; "I feel emotionally distant from other people).

Time frame: Participants will be assessed before and after the intervention, an expected average of 6 months

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov

This platform is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional.