The purpose of this study is to see the the impact of social visits, through weekly phones calls, on quality of life outcomes of depression, anxiety, loneliness, isolation and self-rated health for older adults visited by Adult Protective Services (APS) for abuse, neglect and/or exploitation (ANE) and to also to determine the benefit of these conversations on the medical student's perspective of aging and ANE.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NA
Purpose
SUPPORTIVE_CARE
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
13
Following the collection of the baseline data, the study participant will be assigned to a volunteer(medical student) to begin the social phone calls. The first phone call will be scheduled to occur within one week of the consent and baseline assessments. A minimum of one social phone call will occur each week for 6-weeks. Each phone call is expected to last up to 1 hour.The calls will be unstructured and designed simply to engage in conversation with the participant. The length of the phone calls, days and times will be recorded by the volunteer along with a short journal entry describing the conversation topics and any information that stood out to the volunteer.At the end of the 6-weeks phone calls, a group session will be held with the volunteers to engage in a debriefing and narrative medicine session.
The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Houston, Texas, United States
RECRUITINGChange in Social isolation as assessed by the patient-reported outcomes measurement information system (PROMIS) Social Isolation Scale
This is a 4 item questionnaire and each question is scored from 1(never) to 5(always) a higher number indicating more isolation
Time frame: Baseline, 6 week follow up
Change in Anxiety as assessed by the Geriatric Anxiety Scale
This is a 10 item questionnaire and each question is scored form 0(not at all) to 3(most of the time),a higher number indicating more anxiety
Time frame: Baseline, 6 week follow up
Change in Depression as assessed by the Geriatric Depression Scale Short Form
This is a 15 item questionnaire and each is answered either yes or no. One point is given for No to question 1, 5, 7, 11, 13 and one point for Yes to other questions. Normal ± 2 Mildly Depressed 7 ± 3 Very Depressed 12 ± 2
Time frame: Baseline, 6 week follow up
Change in Loneliness as assessed by the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA ) Loneliness Scale
A 20-item scale that measures the subjective experience of loneliness on a four-point Likert scale. Participants rate each item as either O (I often feel this way),S (I sometimes feel this way), R (I rarely feel this way), N (I never feel this way).
Time frame: Baseline, 6 week follow up
Change in perceived general health as assessed by the Self-Rated Health Question
The participant will rate their health as excellent, very good, good, fair or poor
Time frame: Baseline, 6 week follow up
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