Older Adults
Conditions
Brief summary
The purpose of the study is to evaluate the impact on older adults' wellbeing of participating in a 10-week conversation about arts and culture with an international university student whose native language is not English.
Detailed description
Older adults residing in subsidized housing will participate in a series of online conversations over 10 weeks about various arts and culture with an international university student enrolled at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB); each weekly session will last for about 30 min to one hour. Participants will complete survey questionnaires before and after the 10-week conversation program, and an exit interview at the end of the conversation program.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALConversation about arts and culture
intergenerational conversation about arts and culture between older adults and international students who native language is not English.
Sponsors
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Study design
Observational model
COHORT
Time perspective
PROSPECTIVE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
60 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
1. Live alone 2. older than 60 years old 3. Residence in a subsidized apartment for at least one year 4. Able to carry on a daily conversation with or without hearing aids 5. Intact cognition as indicated by a score of greater than 5 on the Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire (SPMSQ) 6. have a working smart phone that can do video-conferencing 7. being able to provide informed consent
Exclusion criteria
1. having physical, or sensory (visual or hearing) deficits or language barriers (non-English communicators) that may impede study participation 2. non-English speaker
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Loneliness Scale | baseline | (ULS-8, Hays & Dimatteo, 1987) measures one's subjective feelings of loneliness as well as feelings of social isolation. It has 8 items rated on a 4-level frequency score scale (0=never to 3=always) with higher scores indicating a higher degree of loneliness. Some items require reverse scoring. |
| De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale | baseline | De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale - 6 items) measures one's emotional loneliness (lack of intimate relationship, 3 items) and social loneliness (lack of wider social network, 3 items). There are negatively (1-3) and positively (4-6) worded items. On the negatively worded items, the neutral and positive answers are scored as 1. Therefore, on questions 1-3 score Yes=1, More or less=1, and No=0. On the positively worded items, the neutral and negative answers are scored as 1. Therefore, on questions 4-6, score Yes=0, More or less=1, and No=1. This gives a possible range of scores from 0 to 6, with 0=least lonely, and 6=most lonely. |
| Social Connectedness Scale (SCS) | baseline | It has 8 items rated on a 6-point Likert-type scale (1=strongly agree to 6=strongly disagree) with higher scores indicating a more reported sense of social connectedness and belongingness. |
| Medical Outcomes Study Social Support Survey (MOSSS) | baseline | It has 3 items rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale ( 'none of the time' = 1 to 'all of the time' = 5) with higher scores indicating a more positive social interaction. |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS) | baseline | The WEMWBS is intended to measure a person's functioning aspects of mental well-being (Stranges et al., 2014). The scale consists of 14 items, with each item rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale (1 = none of the time to 5 = all of the time). The total scores range from 14 to 70, with higher scores indicating greater mental well-being. |
| Patient Health Questionnaire - 9 items (PHQ-9) | baseline | is to measure for depression, where participants are asked to rate how often they were bothered by specific symptoms over the last two weeks. It has 9 items rated on a 4-level frequency score scale (0=not at all to 3=nearly every day) with higher scores indicating greater symptoms of depression. |
| Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) | baseline | SWLS (Diener et al., 1985) is used to evaluate the global self-assessment of one's quality of life. The SWLS consists of five statements where participants indicated how much they agreed or disagreed with each statement about their life satisfaction using a 7-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree. Higher scores indicate more satisfaction with one's life. |
Countries
United States
Contacts
Primary ContactHon K Yuen, PhD
Outcome results
None listed