Community intervention to reduce social isolation in older adults in disadvantaged urban areas : study protocol for a mixed methods multi-approach evaluation
López Medina, María José (Agència de Salut Pública de Barcelona)
Lapena, Carolina (Institut Català de la Salut)
Sánchez, Alba (Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge)
Continente, Xavier (Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica Sant Pau)
Fernández Sánchez, Ana (Agència de Salut Pública de Barcelona)
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Data:	2019
Resum:	The proportion of older people has dramatically increased in recent decades. Moreover, social and demographic trends show a global increase of older people at risk of loneliness and lack of social relationships. The objective of this study was to evaluate the process, the effectiveness and the cost-effectiveness of a planned 22 weekly group sessions called School of Health for Older People to reduce social isolation. This is a mixed methods multi-approach evaluation that includes: 1) A qualitative evaluation among coordinators and participants taking part in the intervention, through in depth-interviews and focus groups, respectively. The main topics covered will be positive and negative aspects of the intervention, suggestions for its improvement, opinions on different aspects of the intervention, and perceived benefits; 2) A quantitative quasi-experimental design, comparing a group of individuals taking part in the intervention with another group with similar characteristics not receiving the intervention. Data will be collected at the beginning and at the end of the intervention. Social support will be measured through questions drawn from the Medical Outcomes Study and the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project questionnaires. Psychological morbidity will be measured through Goldberg's General Health Questionnaire, and Health-related Quality of Life will be measured through the EuroQoL questionnaire. Information on visits to the primary care center in the years before and after the intervention will be obtained from the electronic records of the primary care centers; 3) A cost-utility analysis, which will be conducted from a health system (primary care) perspective, including direct costs of the program and the primary care health services used. The effects of the intervention will be measured on quality-adjusted life years. There is an urgent need for studies assessing the effectiveness and the efficiency of potential interventions to reduce social isolation among older persons. The results of this study will help to fill the knowledge gap in this area and might be especially useful for the development of social and public health policies and programs for older people in disadvantaged neighborhoods in urban areas. retrospectively registered (April 11, 2017).
Nota:	Altres ajuts: This work was supported by the 8th Institute for the Investigation in Primary Healthcare (IDIAP) Jordi Gol Grant Concession 'Convocatòria d'una estada a una Unitat de Recerca de l'IMIM o l'ASPB o l'IDIBAPS [grant number 2013/01], funded by the Catalan Health Institute.
Drets:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Llengua:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Matèria:	Social isolation ; Aging ; Older people ; Evaluation
Publicat a:	BMC geriatrics, Vol. 19 (february 2019) , ISSN 1471-2318

DOI: 10.1186/s12877-019-1055-9
PMID: 30777022

8 p, 913.5 KB

El registre apareix a les col·leccions:
Documents de recerca > Documents dels grups de recerca de la UAB > Centres i grups de recerca (producció científica) > Ciències de la salut i biociències > Institut de Recerca Sant Pau
Articles > Articles de recerca
Articles > Articles publicats