Social Connectedness at Older Ages and Implications for Health and Well-Being

2014 ◽  
pp. 202-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda J. Waite ◽  
James Iveniuk ◽  
Edward O. Laumann
Keyword(s):  
Social Connectedness ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Health And Well Being

Place and Well-Being

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Casey M. Lindberg ◽  
Meredith A. Banasiak ◽  
Ryan M. Shindler ◽  
Esther M. Sternberg
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Data ◽  
Social Connectedness ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Research Direction ◽  
Behavioral Effects ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Environmental Characteristics ◽  
Natural Systems ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
Health And Well Being

Various fields of research have developed to better understand the health and behavioral effects of environmental characteristics such as air quality and the way our homes and neighborhoods are organized. A synergy of many previously disparate fields of research is underway, aided in part by recent advances in technology. Better sensors, including wearable physiological and environmental monitors, are enabling researchers to more readily study the interactions between environment characteristics and both mental and physical well-being. This new evidence-based research direction adds a much-needed layer of quantitative data to previous, largely qualitative, findings. Moreover, an increased understanding of the environment’s effects on humans can result in not just the alleviation of negative environmental characteristics but also the promotion of positive environmental characteristics. This chapter offers samples of environmental effects on human health and well-being in the following categories: environmental quality, natural systems, sensory environments, physical activity, safety, and social connectedness.

scholarly journals AGE-FRIENDLY COMMUNITIES: ENHANCING COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S254-S254
Author(s):  
Patricia A Oh
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Social Connectedness ◽  
Community Support ◽  
Mission Statements ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Connections ◽  
Outdoor Spaces ◽  
Community Volunteers ◽  
Health And Well Being

Abstract Age-friendly communities promote active, healthy, socially connected aging. Opportunities for social connections are key for older residents to enjoy the best possible health and well-being. Communities that join the AARP Network of Age-Friendly States and Communities (AARP NAFSC) include an aging lens in eight areas of community life—social participation, respect and social inclusion, civic participation and employment, communication and information, housing, transportation, community support and health services, and outdoor spaces and buildings. By addressing factors in these eight areas, communities encourage residents to enjoy formal participation in activities and groups and informal contacts with friends, neighbors and other residents. The purpose of this exploratory study was to find out if communities that join the AARP NAFSC plan and implement changes to enhance social connectedness. A review of 62 AARP-approved action plans nationwide, showed that social connectedness was included in 74% of the mission statements and was a goal in 92% of the plans. The lack of resources in rural communities creates special challenges; many age-friendly initiatives depend on community volunteers to implement changes on a shoe-string budget. To learn how rural age-friendly communities promote social connections, an email survey was distributed to 46 AARP NAFSC communities in rural Maine. All the communities responded. Fostering social connectedness was an explicit goal for 88% of the communities. Areas of implementation included services and activities (83%), communication (61%), transportation (30%), programming to include isolated residents (26%), accessible public spaces (22%), and intergenerational volunteering (17%). Implications will be discussed.

scholarly journals Mental Health Consequences of Adversity in Australia: National Bushfires Associated With Increased Depressive Symptoms, While COVID-19 Pandemic Associated With Increased Symptoms of Anxiety

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hussain-Abdulah Arjmand ◽  
Elizabeth Seabrook ◽  
David Bakker ◽  
Nikki Rickard
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Social Connectedness ◽  
Extended Period ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Emotional Valence ◽  
Cumulative Impact ◽  
Symptoms Of Depression ◽  
And Control ◽  
Health And Well Being

High quality monitoring of mental health and well-being over an extended period is essential to understand how communities respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and how to best tailor interventions. Multiple community threats may also have cumulative impact on mental health, so examination across several contexts is important. The objective of this study is to report on changes in mental health and well-being in response to the Australian bushfires and COVID-19 pandemic. This study utilized an Experience-Sampling-Method (ESM), using the smartphone-based mood monitoring application, MoodPrism. Participants were prompted once a day to complete a brief survey inquiring about symptoms of depression and anxiety, and several well-being indices, including arousal, emotional valence, self-esteem, motivation, social connectedness, meaning and purpose, and control. Participants were N = 755 Australians (aged 13 years and above) who downloaded and used MoodPrism, between 2018 and 2020. Results showed that anxiety symptoms significantly increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, but not during the bushfires. This may be explained by concurrent feelings of social connectedness maintained during the bushfires but not during the pandemic. In contrast, depressive symptoms increased significantly during the bushfires, which maintained during the pandemic. Most indices of well-being decreased significantly during the bushfires, and further again during the pandemic. Study findings highlight the unique responses to the bushfire and COVID-19 crises, revealing specific areas of resilience and vulnerability. Such information can help inform the development of public health interventions or individual clinical treatment, to improve treatment approaches and preparedness for potential future community disasters.

scholarly journals What Motivates Volunteers to Engage in Health-Related Citizen Science Initiatives? A Case Study of Our Outdoors

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (19) ◽  
pp. 6950 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Lehman ◽  
Ruth Jepson ◽  
John McAteer ◽  
Daryll Archibald
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Science ◽  
Social Connectedness ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Personal Learning ◽  
Active Involvement ◽  
Science Projects ◽  
Making A Difference ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Health And Well Being

Citizen science is increasing in popularity but remains largely located in the disciplines of environmental and natural sciences. However, it has the potential to be a useful tool in other disciplines such as health. The aim of this study was to identify the factors for involvement (or non-involvement) in health-related citizen science projects using the Our Outdoors citizen science initiative as an example. Our Outdoors aims to understand how urban and rural shared outdoors spaces (e.g., parks, lakes, rivers, beaches) can affect human health and well-being (both positively and negatively). Understanding the motivations for involvement in such a program is likely to be useful for increasing participation rates and involvement. Qualitative research methods were used in this study in which semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 participants from two community projects in Scotland, United Kingdom. A thematic analysis revealed five key themes pertaining to the factors that motivated engagement with health-related citizen science projects such as Our Outdoors. These include enhancing social connectedness; personal learning development; making a difference in the community; gaining health and well-being benefits; and finally, demotivating factors relating to time constraints and the term “citizen science”. This study concludes that emphasising motivating factors in the promotional material for health-related citizen science projects may increase recruitment and the active involvement of participants. Similarly, reducing the presence of demotivating factors and considering the use of the term “citizen science” is likely to encourage participation

scholarly journals If you’re happy and you know it: Neural correlates of self-evaluated psychological health and well-being

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danielle Cosme ◽  
Arian Mobasser ◽  
Garrett Ross ◽  
Jennifer H Pfeifer
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Psychological Health ◽  
Psychological Functioning ◽  
Social Connectedness ◽  
Good Life ◽  
Subjective Evaluation ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
The Good Life ◽  
Health And Well Being

What does it mean to be well? Prior research suggests that it’s more than just the absence of illness or disease; a complete picture of psychological health is also defined in terms of the “good life,” or well-being. Amid continued debate as to what constitutes the good life, one point of relative agreement is that a person’s psychological health is contingent on their own subjective evaluation. The goal of the current study was to further our understanding of psychological functioning by investigating the neural correlates of self-evaluated psychological health and well-being. A sample of 113 incoming college freshmen completed an fMRI task in which they evaluated words and phrases related to three constructs associated with psychological health–well-being, ill-being, and social connectedness–in terms of self-descriptiveness and perceived malleability. Behaviorally, well-being and social connectedness items were more likely to be endorsed as self-descriptive than ill-being items, and social items were perceived to be more malleable. Neurally, self-evaluation was associated with increased activity in the default mode network, consistent with preregistered hypotheses. We observed strong spatial overlap in neural representations among constructs, though patterns of activity in a priori regions of interest–pgACC, vmPFC, and VS–exhibited low similarity among constructs. Furthermore, we found that these neural predictors explained additional variance in trial-level evaluations of psychological health, but not in individual differences in psychological health when aggregating across trials. Specifically, multilevel logistic regression revealed that greater vmPFC activity increased the likelihood of endorsing items as self-descriptive, but only for ill-being items. Exploratory specification curve analyses suggested that closer examination of these neural correlates using multivariate approaches may provide additional insight into individual differences in psychological health.

scholarly journals Aging Strong: Promoting Resilience Through Optimism, Purpose, and Social Connections

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 182-182
Author(s):  
Ellen Wicker ◽  
James Schaeffer
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Health ◽  
Successful Aging ◽  
Social Connectedness ◽  
Healthy Aging ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Health And Wellness ◽  
Holistic Model ◽  
Participant Experience ◽  
Health And Well Being

Abstract Resilience is defined as the ability to adapt and cope with circumstances in a way that empowers one to emerge stronger, thrive, and incorporate lessons learned. Resilience as a trait can be learned and modified and have a significant impact on healthy aging. UnitedHealthcare (UHC) and AARP Services, Inc. (ASI) are committed to the health and well-being of participants in UHC’s Medicare Supplement insurance plans, recognizing that health and wellness need to be promoted on a holistic level to ensure successful aging. In this effort, an initiative titled Aging Strong 2020 was developed to promote health, well-being, and increase resilience by focusing on the key individual pillars of enhanced purpose in life, social connectedness, and optimism. To accomplish this goal, a series of eight interventions over three years were created and delivered, with a focus on the key pillars in order to improve clinical and psychological health outcomes and participants’ satisfaction with health care. This symposium will specifically discuss efforts related to the Aging Strong 2020 program. First, we will describe the prevalence and outcomes of the pillars in a large national survey. Next, key challenges and successes in recruitment and retention for the various interventions will be highlighted, followed by overall findings from the eight interventions targeting the pillars. Finally, qualitative findings on participant experience as a result of participation will be discussed. Results from these initiatives demonstrate that interventions designed to improve well-being among older adults contribute to the holistic model of health.

Military Spouses Stationed Overseas: Role of Social Connectedness on Health and Well-Being

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Coleen L. Crouch ◽  
Amanda L. Adrian ◽  
Amy B. Adler ◽  
Michael D. Wood ◽  
Jeffrey L. Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Social Connectedness ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Military Spouses ◽  
Health And Well Being

Connecting Older Adults and Their Families through Social Technology

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
J Mueller ◽  
H Foran
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Family Relationships ◽  
Technology Use ◽  
Social Connectedness ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Technology ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Health And Well Being

Abstract Background Older adults often face problems with social isolation, which is a risk factor for poorer mental and physical health. New forms of social technologies (e.g., WhatsApp) provide opportunities to facilitate social connectedness with family members. Understanding older adults’ behaviors and perceptions related to digital communication tools can inform the development of interventions to increase the adoption of these tools for social communication. This study aims to evaluate attitudes and barriers to as well as facilitators of social technology reported by grandparents and grandchildren. The secondary aim is to examine the associations between social technology use and health and well-being outcomes and to identify what factors mediate the use of social technology. Methods In this cross-sectional study, 144 grandchildren (Mage=26.53, SD = 9.17; 81.9% female) were recruited through student mailing lists. Grandparents were invited either through their grandchild or by the research team and recruitment is expected to be completed by September 2019. Three main groups of variables were examined: health and well-being outcomes, social support related outcomes and social technology related outcomes. Results & Conclusions Grandchildren reported very positive attitudes toward social technology as expected. Greater social technology use was associated with better psychological (r =.26, p =.002) and subjective well-being (rs =.20, p =.023), higher psychosocial flourishing (r =.41, p <.001), social support (rs =.22, p =.009) and social connectedness (r =.39, p <.001). Social technology use was not correlated with health, the grandparent-grandchild relationship, loneliness and depression at the bivariate level. Barriers to social technology are security concerns, threat to privacy and constant availability. Facilitators include increased contact, dealing with geographic boundaries and information seeking. Results from grandparents will also be presented. Key messages Social technology has potential to enhance older adults’ lives by facilitating better family relationships, building social support, reducing loneliness and through this improve health and well-being. More research is needed in this area to understand benefits or potential harms and dynamics between younger family members and older adults in use of social technology.

scholarly journals Improving Resilience, Optimism, Purpose, and Loneliness Among Older Adults

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 182-183
Author(s):  
Lizi Wu ◽  
Laurie Albright ◽  
Rachel Ungar ◽  
Catherine Zaidel ◽  
Yan Cheng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Expressive Writing ◽  
Social Connectedness ◽  
Healthy Aging ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Support Program ◽  
Holistic Model ◽  
Participant Satisfaction ◽  
Self Compassion ◽  
Net Promoter ◽  
Health And Well Being

Abstract Aging Strong 2020 was developed to promote health and well-being and increase resilience by focusing on the pillars of enhanced purpose in life, social connectedness, and optimism. A series of eight interventions over three years tested the feasibility of enhancing these pillars. Interventions included: 1) An expressive writing program, 2) Animatronic pets, 3) A telephonic reminiscent program, 4) An online self-compassion mindfulness program, 5) A technology-based behavior change tool, 6) An online and workbook tool for purpose, 7) An online happiness program, and 8) A peer-to-peer support program. Each program demonstrated efficacy dependent on the pillar targeted and the population sampled. Overall, some improvement was found among participants in resilience (47%), purpose (49%), optimism (44%), and loneliness (48%). Further, participant satisfaction improved in each program with Net Promoter Scores increasing between 7-19 points. Results demonstrate that Aging Strong 2020 was successful, contributing to a holistic model of healthy aging.

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