The Helping Older People Engage Project: Improving Social Well-Being in Later Life (HOPE)

University of Rochester

Status: Completed

Conditions: Quality of Life; Loneliness

Treatments: Behavioral: Life Review; Behavioral: Volunteering

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT03343483

R01AG054457 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Details and patient eligibility

About

Older adults who feel lonely carry increased risk for reduced quality of life, morbidity, and mortality. Volunteering is a promising intervention for reducing loneliness in later life. The primary objective of this proposal is to test the hypothesis that a social volunteering program for lonely older adults will lead to reduced loneliness and improved quality of life.

This study compares the effect of a Senior Corps volunteering intervention versus a self-guided life review active control condition on feelings of loneliness in older adults.

The study involves randomly assigning older adults (150 women, 150 men) who report loneliness to 12 months of either: 1) a structured social volunteering program, or 2) an active control intervention with self-guided life review. Specific aims are as follows: 1) To examine the effect of volunteering on loneliness and quality of life; 2) To examine social engagement, perceived usefulness, and social support as mechanisms for reducing loneliness; 3) To examine conditions under which volunteering is most effective at reducing loneliness.

Full description

The many negative outcomes associated with loneliness in older people have rendered loneliness itself a new public health target. Older adults who feel lonely carry increased risk for reduced quality of life, morbidity, and mortality. The risk of premature mortality related to loneliness is at least as large as the risks arising from such factors as obesity, physical inactivity, alcohol misuse, and smoking. Volunteering is a promising intervention for reducing loneliness in later life. The primary objective of this proposal is to test the hypothesis that a social volunteering program for lonely older adults will lead to reduced loneliness and improved quality of life. National infrastructure for volunteering (The Senior Corps) ensures that volunteering is a highly scalable intervention.

The investigators propose to compare the effect of a Senior Corps volunteering intervention versus a self-guided life review active control condition on feelings of loneliness in older adults. The investigators' preliminary data, as well as published studies of volunteering in later life, strongly suggest that volunteering should reduce loneliness. Rigorous experimental study is needed, however, to examine volunteering in both men and women who are lonely, to determine conditions that maximize benefit, and to understand mechanisms. The investigators hypothesize, per tenets of Self-Determination Theory, that increased social engagement and feelings of both usefulness and social support function as psychological mechanisms whereby volunteering reduces loneliness. Understanding these mechanisms will promote effective implementation, allowing communities to adapt volunteering programs while retaining the active ingredients.

The study involves randomly assigning older adults (150 women, 150 men) who report loneliness to 12 months of either: 1) a structured social volunteering program, or 2) an active control intervention with self-guided life review.

Specific aims are as follows: 1) To examine the effect of volunteering on loneliness and quality of life; 2) To examine social engagement, perceived usefulness, and social support as mechanisms for reducing loneliness; 3) To examine conditions under which volunteering is most effective at reducing loneliness.

The volunteering intervention is already implemented nation-wide, indicating high feasibility of going to scale (http://www.nationalservice.gov/programs/senior-corps). If effective, volunteering should be "prescribed" by physicians and promoted by policy. Dissemination and scaling up efforts will involve connecting primary care patients and aging services clients who are lonely with The Senior Corps, shown to be feasible in the investigators' companion study, The Senior Connection. Existing infrastructure will make it possible to reach a large proportion of lonely older adults. Reducing loneliness has the potential to improve well-being and save lives.

Enrollment: 291 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 60+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Age 60 or older
• English-speaking
• UCLA Short Form Loneliness Scale score of 6 or more
• Ability to supply own transportation to care receiver's home; active drivers license and automobile insurance (or alternate transportation such as city bus)

Exclusion criteria

• Current problem drinking
• Psychosis
• Significant cognitive impairment (MOCA<22)
• Hearing problems that preclude engagement with a care receiver
• Illiteracy

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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291 participants in 2 patient groups

Volunteering

Experimental group

Description:

Structured social volunteering program providing peer companionship to frail, homebound older adults for at least 16 hours per month for 12 months.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Volunteering

Life Review

Active Comparator group

Description:

Self-guided program of life review for 12 months.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Life Review