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Virtual Intergenerational Reverse-Mentoring Program Reduces Loneliness among Older Adults: Results from a Pilot Evaluation

Social isolation and loneliness can create negative health outcomes for older adults. Informed by social capital and intergroup contact theories, our goal was to reduce these social problems using an intergenerational reverse-mentoring program. During fall 2020, we implemented an adapted, fully onli...

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Autores principales: Juris, Jill J., Bouldin, Erin D., Uva, Katherine, Cardwell, Christopher D., Schulhoff, Anastacia, Hiegl, Nicole
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9222564/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35742370
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19127121
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author Juris, Jill J.
Bouldin, Erin D.
Uva, Katherine
Cardwell, Christopher D.
Schulhoff, Anastacia
Hiegl, Nicole
author_facet Juris, Jill J.
Bouldin, Erin D.
Uva, Katherine
Cardwell, Christopher D.
Schulhoff, Anastacia
Hiegl, Nicole
author_sort Juris, Jill J.
collection PubMed
description Social isolation and loneliness can create negative health outcomes for older adults. Informed by social capital and intergroup contact theories, our goal was to reduce these social problems using an intergenerational reverse-mentoring program. During fall 2020, we implemented an adapted, fully online version of Cyber-Seniors that encouraged undergraduate students to provide technology mentoring to local older adults in a seven-county area in rural Appalachia. We recruited gerontology students through the university and local older adults through local aging organizations. We collected data through pre-and post-tests that included validated measures (Lubben Social Network Scale-6 and UCLA 3-item loneliness scale) and open-ended questions about the program. Thirty-one students and nine older adults completed the pre-survey; twenty students and eight older adults completed the post-survey. We made comparisons using t-tests and considered p < 0.20 to indicate meaningful differences given the anticipated small sample size in this pilot project. Isolation did not change among older adults but increased among students in the family domain (p = 0.14) between baseline and follow-up. Loneliness improved between the pre- and post-tests among older adults (mean: 5.6 (SD = 2.2) to 4.1 (SD = 1.3), p = 0.17) but not among students (mean: 5.0 (SD = 1.5) to 5.2 (SD = 1.7), p = 0.73). In open-ended responses, older adults described learning new ways to interact with friends and family as a result of the program. This program was acceptable and suggested effectiveness in an important health-related domain (loneliness). While larger studies are needed to fully test the program’s impact, this pilot evaluation suggests that reverse mentoring programs can be implemented virtually and may improve social outcomes.
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spelling pubmed-92225642022-06-24 Virtual Intergenerational Reverse-Mentoring Program Reduces Loneliness among Older Adults: Results from a Pilot Evaluation Juris, Jill J. Bouldin, Erin D. Uva, Katherine Cardwell, Christopher D. Schulhoff, Anastacia Hiegl, Nicole Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Social isolation and loneliness can create negative health outcomes for older adults. Informed by social capital and intergroup contact theories, our goal was to reduce these social problems using an intergenerational reverse-mentoring program. During fall 2020, we implemented an adapted, fully online version of Cyber-Seniors that encouraged undergraduate students to provide technology mentoring to local older adults in a seven-county area in rural Appalachia. We recruited gerontology students through the university and local older adults through local aging organizations. We collected data through pre-and post-tests that included validated measures (Lubben Social Network Scale-6 and UCLA 3-item loneliness scale) and open-ended questions about the program. Thirty-one students and nine older adults completed the pre-survey; twenty students and eight older adults completed the post-survey. We made comparisons using t-tests and considered p < 0.20 to indicate meaningful differences given the anticipated small sample size in this pilot project. Isolation did not change among older adults but increased among students in the family domain (p = 0.14) between baseline and follow-up. Loneliness improved between the pre- and post-tests among older adults (mean: 5.6 (SD = 2.2) to 4.1 (SD = 1.3), p = 0.17) but not among students (mean: 5.0 (SD = 1.5) to 5.2 (SD = 1.7), p = 0.73). In open-ended responses, older adults described learning new ways to interact with friends and family as a result of the program. This program was acceptable and suggested effectiveness in an important health-related domain (loneliness). While larger studies are needed to fully test the program’s impact, this pilot evaluation suggests that reverse mentoring programs can be implemented virtually and may improve social outcomes. MDPI 2022-06-10 /pmc/articles/PMC9222564/ /pubmed/35742370 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19127121 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Juris, Jill J.
Bouldin, Erin D.
Uva, Katherine
Cardwell, Christopher D.
Schulhoff, Anastacia
Hiegl, Nicole
Virtual Intergenerational Reverse-Mentoring Program Reduces Loneliness among Older Adults: Results from a Pilot Evaluation
title Virtual Intergenerational Reverse-Mentoring Program Reduces Loneliness among Older Adults: Results from a Pilot Evaluation
title_full Virtual Intergenerational Reverse-Mentoring Program Reduces Loneliness among Older Adults: Results from a Pilot Evaluation
title_fullStr Virtual Intergenerational Reverse-Mentoring Program Reduces Loneliness among Older Adults: Results from a Pilot Evaluation
title_full_unstemmed Virtual Intergenerational Reverse-Mentoring Program Reduces Loneliness among Older Adults: Results from a Pilot Evaluation
title_short Virtual Intergenerational Reverse-Mentoring Program Reduces Loneliness among Older Adults: Results from a Pilot Evaluation
title_sort virtual intergenerational reverse-mentoring program reduces loneliness among older adults: results from a pilot evaluation
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9222564/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35742370
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19127121
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