scholarly journals How Is Daily Social Interaction Related to Loneliness in Older Adults? The Roles of Trait Loneliness and Personality

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 461-462
Author(s):  
Ruixue Zhaoyang ◽  
Stacey Scott ◽  
Karra Harrington ◽  
Martin Sliwinski
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Social Interaction ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Multilevel Models ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
The Past ◽  
Aging Study ◽  
Ecological Momentary ◽  
Community Dwelling Older Adults

Abstract Loneliness is prevalent among older adults and is associated with increased risks for morbidity and mortality. This study examined what types of social interactions could reduce loneliness for older adults and who would benefit the most from social interactions. We used data from 312 community-dwelling older adults (aged 70 to 90 years) who completed ecological momentary assessments (EMA) five times a day for 16 consecutive days using smartphones (n=20,507 reports), as part of the ongoing Einstein Aging Study (EAS). At each EMA, participants reported their social interactions in the past 3 to 4 hours and their current feelings of loneliness. Results from multilevel models revealed that older adults reported lower levels of loneliness on occasions when they had pleasant social interactions (p<.000) or interactions with family (p=.001) in the past few hours, compared with occasions when they had no social interaction. In contrast, they reported higher levels of loneliness if they had unpleasant social interactions in the past few hours (p=.004). These within-person (WP) effects of social interactions on momentary loneliness were significantly moderated by participants’ trait levels of loneliness and neuroticism; and were significantly stronger among those with higher (vs. lower) trait loneliness (ps <.001) or neuroticism (ps <.042). Other personality traits (Extraversion, Openness, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness) did not moderate any WP association. These results highlight the importance of having pleasant social interactions and frequent interactions with family for reducing older adults’ loneliness in daily life, especially for those higher in trait loneliness and neuroticism.

scholarly journals Older Adults' Online and Offline Social Interactions During the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 301-301
Author(s):  
Kristina Shiroma ◽  
Atami de Main ◽  
Nathan Davis ◽  
Bo Xie
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Social Interaction ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Video Chat ◽  
Communication Modes ◽  
Central Texas ◽  
Age Range ◽  
Community Dwelling Older Adults

Abstract During the COVID-19 pandemic, much of our social interaction has transitioned from in-person to online. This study examined older adults’ social interaction during COVID-19, online and offline. Participants were recruited from community-dwelling older adults in Central Texas. Data collection took place via the telephone during June-August 2020 (N = 200; age range: 65-92 years; Mean: 73.6; SD: 6.33). Participants used a variety of communication modes, including phone or texting (used by 99% of the participants); email (44%); in person (35%); video chat (31%); social media (24%); and postal mail (4%). Most participants (77%) used more than one communication mode. Participants discussed their preferences for and challenges of technology (i.e., smart phones) and its applications (i.e., video chat, telehealth, and social media). Participants’ self-reported experiences ranged from positive (50%), mixed (35%), to negative (15%). These findings will inform policy and community interventions to promote older adults’ social interactions during the pandemic.

scholarly journals Reliabilities of mean and variability of ambulatory pain among community dwelling older adults

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 892-892
Author(s):  
Jinshil Hyun ◽  
Jiyue Qin ◽  
Cuiling Wang ◽  
Mindy Katz ◽  
Jelena Pavlovic ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Individual Variability ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Health Consequences ◽  
Subjective Pain ◽  
Aging Study ◽  
Diverse Community ◽  
Pain Experiences ◽  
Ecological Momentary ◽  
Community Dwelling Older Adults

Abstract Individual’s pain experiences vary substantially over time periods, and the variability in pain may be an important metric to predict health consequences. However, research on its reliability is lacking among older adults. We aimed to examine the reliabilities of both intra-individual mean (IIM) and intra-individual variability (IIV) of subjective pain reports assessed using ecological momentary assessments (EMA) among racially diverse, community dwelling older adults. Participants were from the Einstein Aging Study (N=311, age=70-91) and completed a 14-day EMA protocol which included self-reports of pain intensity 6 times a day. Pain IIV was quantified using intraindividual standard deviation (iSD). We followed Wang and Grimm(2012)’s approach to calculate the reliability of IIM and IIV. Over a 2-week period, we found excellent reliabilities for both pain IIM (.99) and pain IIV (.91), showing that these measures are reliable and can be used to link with various health outcomes among community dwelling older adults. We also estimated the average number of assessments that produce acceptable levels of reliability. The average of 2 assessments for pain IIM and 23 assessments for pain IIV produced values that exceeded reliability score of .80, suggesting that a briefer study design may be used to reduce participants’ burden with reliable pain metrics. Future studies need to examine whether pain IIV is associated with cognitive, emotional, and physical health among older adults and whether intervention studies that target to reduce pain IIV improve health consequences.

scholarly journals Daily Cognitive Difficulties and Social Experiences Among Older Adults

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 697-697
Author(s):  
Ruixue Zhaoyang ◽  
Jacqueline Mogle ◽  
Karra Harrington ◽  
Martin Sliwinski
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Social Engagement ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Multilevel Models ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Experiences ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Cognitive Difficulties

Abstract Self-reported cognitive difficulties are common in older adults and may be an early indicator of future cognitive decline or dementia. In past retrospective reports, cognitive difficulties have been linked with differences in social engagement or social relationships among older adults. However, little is known about how self-reported cognitive difficulties in daily life, such as memory lapses, relate to older adults’ daily social experiences. This study examined how self-reported cognitive difficulties were related to older adults’ daily social interactions and loneliness. Data were drawn from 312 community-dwelling older adults (aged 70 to 90 years) who reported their social interactions and loneliness throughout the day (five times) as well as cognitive difficulties (e.g., memory lapses, problems with attention) at the end of each day for 14 days. Multilevel models revealed that participants reported fewer memory lapses on days when they reported more frequent interactions with family members (p=.041). Higher levels of disruptions to daily activities caused by cognitive difficulties, in turn, predicted higher levels of loneliness the next day (p=.006), but not changes in social interactions the next day. At the between-person level, more memory lapses in daily life were associated with less frequent social interactions with friends, but more frequent unpleasant social interactions and higher levels of loneliness on average. These results suggest that older adults’ self-reported cognitive difficulties were dynamically associated with their social interactions and loneliness at the daily level and played an important role in older adults’ social life and well-being.

scholarly journals Promoting Generalized Learning in Balance Recovery Interventions

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 402
Author(s):  
Sara A. Harper ◽  
Anne Z. Beethe ◽  
Christopher J. Dakin ◽  
David A. E. Bolton
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Motor Learning ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Balance Training ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Specific Training ◽  
Balance Recovery ◽  
Parallel Streams ◽  
Postural Perturbations ◽  
Community Dwelling Older Adults

Recent studies have shown balance recovery can be enhanced via task-specific training, referred to as perturbation-based balance training (PBT). These interventions rely on principles of motor learning where repeated exposure to task-relevant postural perturbations results in more effective compensatory balance responses. Evidence indicates that compensatory responses trained using PBT can be retained for many months and can lead to a reduction in falls in community-dwelling older adults. A notable shortcoming with PBT is that it does not transfer well to similar but contextually different scenarios (e.g., falling sideways versus a forward trip). Given that it is not feasible to train all conditions in which someone could fall, this limited transfer presents a conundrum; namely, how do we best use PBT to appropriately equip people to deal with the enormous variety of fall-inducing scenarios encountered in daily life? In this perspective article, we draw from fields of research that explore how general learning can be promoted. From this, we propose a series of methods, gleaned from parallel streams of research, to inform and hopefully optimize this emerging field where people receive training to specifically improve their balance reactions.

Widowhood Status and Cognitive Function in Community-Dwelling Older Adults from the Mexican Health and Aging Study (MHAS)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariana Barragán-García ◽  
Ricardo Ramírez-Aldana ◽  
Mariana López-Ortega ◽  
Sergio Sánchez-García ◽  
Carmen García-Peña
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Cognitive Function ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Aging Study ◽  
Community Dwelling Older Adults

scholarly journals Validation of the German Life-Space Assessment (LSA-D): cross-sectional validation study in urban and rural community-dwelling older adults

BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. e049926
Author(s):  
Sandra Angelika Mümken ◽  
Paul Gellert ◽  
Malte Stollwerck ◽  
Julie Lorraine O'Sullivan ◽  
Joern Kiselev
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Construct Validity ◽  
Outcome Measures ◽  
Total Sample ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Secondary Outcome ◽  
Life Space ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
The Past ◽  
Community Dwelling Older Adults

ObjectivesTo develop a German version of the original University of Alabama at Birmingham Study of Aging Life-Space Assessment (LSA-D) for measurement of community mobility in older adults within the past 4 weeks and to evaluate its construct validity for urban and rural populations of older adults.DesignCross-sectional validation study.SettingTwo study centres in urban and rural German outpatient hospital settings.ParticipantsIn total, N=83 community-dwelling older adults were recruited (n=40 from urban and n=43 from rural areas; mean age was 78.5 years (SD=5.4); 49.4% men).Primary and secondary outcome measuresThe final version of the translated LSA-D was related to limitations in activities and instrumental activities of daily living (ADL/iADL) as primary outcome measure (primary hypothesis); and with sociodemographic factors, functional mobility, self-rated health, balance confidence and history of falls as secondary outcome measures to obtain construct validity. Further descriptive measurements of health included hand grip strength, screening of cognitive function, comorbidities and use of transportation. To assess construct validity, correlations between LSA-D and the primary and secondary outcome measures were examined for the total sample, and urban and rural subsamples using bivariate regression and multiple adjusted regression models. Descriptive analyses of LSA-D included different scoring methods for each region. All parameters were estimated using non-parametric bootstrapping procedure.ResultsIn the multiple adjusted model for the total sample, number of ADL/iADL limitations (β=−0.26; 95% CI=−0.42 to −0.08), Timed Up and Go Test (β=−0.37; 95% CI=−0.68 to −0.14), shared living arrangements (β=0.22; 95% CI=0.01 to 0.44) and history of falls in the past 6 months (β=−0.22; 95% CI=−0.41 to −0.05) showed significant associations with the LSA-D composite score, while living in urban area (β=−0.19; 95% CI=−0.42 to 0.03) and male gender (β=0.15; 95% CI=−0.04 to 0.35) were not significant.ConclusionThe LSA-D is a valid tool for measuring life-space mobility in German community-dwelling older adults within the past 4 weeks in ambulant urban and rural settings.Trial registration numberDRKS00019023.

Potential herb–drug interactions in community-dwelling older adults in China: the Shanghai Aging Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (12) ◽  
pp. 2677-2685
Author(s):  
Danyi Chi ◽  
Ding Ding ◽  
Qianhua Zhao ◽  
Xiaoniu Liang ◽  
Wanqing Wu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Drug Interactions ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Aging Study ◽  
Community Dwelling Older Adults

scholarly journals Multiple Linear Regression-Structural Equation Modeling Based Development of the Integrated Model of Perceived Neighborhood Environment and Quality of Life of Community-Dwelling Older Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study in Nanjing, China

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (24) ◽  
pp. 4933 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fan Zhang ◽  
Dezhi Li
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Neighborhood Environment ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Community Dwelling Older Adults ◽  
Perceived Neighborhood Environment

Due to the poor functioning in daily living activities, community-dwelling older adults spend more time in their neighborhood environment. The perceived neighborhood environment is crucial to their quality of life (QoL). To explore the complex influences of perceived neighborhood environment on QoL, a questionnaire was designed to measure their perception of each factor of neighborhood environment and each domain of QoL. Based on collected data, the reliability test was applied to revise the questionnaire. Multiple linear regression (MLR) and structural equation modeling (SEM) were adopted to hypothesize and test the integrated model for community-dwelling older adults. The results show that community-dwelling older adults’ perceptions of neighbor support, facilities related to physical exercise and recreation, and accessibility to facilities impact their overall QoL with diverse coefficients of 0.437, 0.312, and 0.295, respectively; neighbor support (0.207) on physical health; sidewalk condition (0.134), natural environment (0.260), and facilities related to daily life (0.165) on psychological health; and neighbor support (0.298), facilities related to daily life (0.206), and design-related safety (0.225) on social relationship. This revealed that perceptions of neighborhood environment have diverse impacts on their QoL. This study can provide targeted retrofit strategies for communities to enhance QoL of community-dwelling older adults efficiently.

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