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Effectiveness of Technology Interventions in Addressing Social Isolation, Connectedness, and Loneliness in Older Adults: Systematic Umbrella Review
BACKGROUND: The global population of older adults (aged >60 years) is expected to triple to 2 billion by 2050. Proportionate rises in older adults affected by loneliness and social isolation (or social connectedness) are expected. Rapid deployability and social changes have increased the availabi...
Autores principales: | , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
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JMIR Publications
2022
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9641519/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36279155 http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/40125 |
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author | Balki, Eric Hayes, Niall Holland, Carol |
author_facet | Balki, Eric Hayes, Niall Holland, Carol |
author_sort | Balki, Eric |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: The global population of older adults (aged >60 years) is expected to triple to 2 billion by 2050. Proportionate rises in older adults affected by loneliness and social isolation (or social connectedness) are expected. Rapid deployability and social changes have increased the availability of technological devices, creating new opportunities for older adults. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to identify, synthesize, and critically appraise the effectiveness of technology interventions improving social connectedness in older adults by assessing the quality of reviews, common observations, and derivable themes. METHODS: Following the guidelines of PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses), 4 databases (PsycINFO, PubMed, Embase, and MEDLINE) were searched between February 2020 and March 2022. We identified reviews with adults aged ≥50 years in community and residential settings, reporting outcomes related to the impact of technologies on social disconnectedness with inclusion criteria based on the population, intervention, context, outcomes, and study schema—review-type articles (systematic, meta-analyses, integrative, and scoping)—and with digital interventions included. Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluations (GRADE) was used to measure the strength of outcome recommendations including the risk of bias. The reviews covered 326 primary studies with 79,538 participants. Findings were extracted, synthesized, and organized according to emerging themes. RESULTS: Overall, 972 publications met the initial search criteria, and 24 met our inclusion criteria. Revised Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews was used to assess the quality of the analysis. Eligible reviews (3/24, 12%) were excluded because of their low Revised Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews scores (<22). The included reviews were dedicated to information and communications technology (ICT; 11/24, 46%), videoconferencing (4/24, 17%), computer or internet training (3/24, 12%), telecare (2/24, 8%), social networking sites (2/24, 8%), and robotics (2/27, 8%). Although technology was found to improve social connectedness, its effectiveness depended on study design and is improved by shorter durations, longer training times, and the facilitation of existing relationships. ICT and videoconferencing showed the best results, followed by computer training. Social networking sites achieved mixed results. Robotics and augmented reality showed promising results but lacked sufficient data for informed conclusions. The overall quality of the studies based on GRADE was medium low to very low. CONCLUSIONS: Technology interventions can improve social connectedness in older adults. The specific effectiveness rates favor ICT and videoconferencing, but with limited evidence, as indicated by low GRADE ratings. Future intervention and study design guidelines should carefully assess the methodological quality of studies and the overall certainty of specific outcome measures. The lack of randomized controlled trials in underlying primary studies (<28%) and suboptimal methodologies limited our findings. Robotics and augmented or virtual reality warrant further research. Low GRADE scores highlight the need for high-quality research in these areas. TRIAL REGISTRATION: PROSPERO CRD42022363475; https://tinyurl.com/mdd6zds |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-9641519 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2022 |
publisher | JMIR Publications |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-96415192022-11-15 Effectiveness of Technology Interventions in Addressing Social Isolation, Connectedness, and Loneliness in Older Adults: Systematic Umbrella Review Balki, Eric Hayes, Niall Holland, Carol JMIR Aging Review BACKGROUND: The global population of older adults (aged >60 years) is expected to triple to 2 billion by 2050. Proportionate rises in older adults affected by loneliness and social isolation (or social connectedness) are expected. Rapid deployability and social changes have increased the availability of technological devices, creating new opportunities for older adults. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to identify, synthesize, and critically appraise the effectiveness of technology interventions improving social connectedness in older adults by assessing the quality of reviews, common observations, and derivable themes. METHODS: Following the guidelines of PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses), 4 databases (PsycINFO, PubMed, Embase, and MEDLINE) were searched between February 2020 and March 2022. We identified reviews with adults aged ≥50 years in community and residential settings, reporting outcomes related to the impact of technologies on social disconnectedness with inclusion criteria based on the population, intervention, context, outcomes, and study schema—review-type articles (systematic, meta-analyses, integrative, and scoping)—and with digital interventions included. Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluations (GRADE) was used to measure the strength of outcome recommendations including the risk of bias. The reviews covered 326 primary studies with 79,538 participants. Findings were extracted, synthesized, and organized according to emerging themes. RESULTS: Overall, 972 publications met the initial search criteria, and 24 met our inclusion criteria. Revised Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews was used to assess the quality of the analysis. Eligible reviews (3/24, 12%) were excluded because of their low Revised Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews scores (<22). The included reviews were dedicated to information and communications technology (ICT; 11/24, 46%), videoconferencing (4/24, 17%), computer or internet training (3/24, 12%), telecare (2/24, 8%), social networking sites (2/24, 8%), and robotics (2/27, 8%). Although technology was found to improve social connectedness, its effectiveness depended on study design and is improved by shorter durations, longer training times, and the facilitation of existing relationships. ICT and videoconferencing showed the best results, followed by computer training. Social networking sites achieved mixed results. Robotics and augmented reality showed promising results but lacked sufficient data for informed conclusions. The overall quality of the studies based on GRADE was medium low to very low. CONCLUSIONS: Technology interventions can improve social connectedness in older adults. The specific effectiveness rates favor ICT and videoconferencing, but with limited evidence, as indicated by low GRADE ratings. Future intervention and study design guidelines should carefully assess the methodological quality of studies and the overall certainty of specific outcome measures. The lack of randomized controlled trials in underlying primary studies (<28%) and suboptimal methodologies limited our findings. Robotics and augmented or virtual reality warrant further research. Low GRADE scores highlight the need for high-quality research in these areas. TRIAL REGISTRATION: PROSPERO CRD42022363475; https://tinyurl.com/mdd6zds JMIR Publications 2022-10-24 /pmc/articles/PMC9641519/ /pubmed/36279155 http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/40125 Text en ©Eric Balki, Niall Hayes, Carol Holland. Originally published in JMIR Aging (https://aging.jmir.org), 24.10.2022. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in JMIR Aging, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on https://aging.jmir.org, as well as this copyright and license information must be included. |
spellingShingle | Review Balki, Eric Hayes, Niall Holland, Carol Effectiveness of Technology Interventions in Addressing Social Isolation, Connectedness, and Loneliness in Older Adults: Systematic Umbrella Review |
title | Effectiveness of Technology Interventions in Addressing Social Isolation, Connectedness, and Loneliness in Older Adults: Systematic Umbrella Review |
title_full | Effectiveness of Technology Interventions in Addressing Social Isolation, Connectedness, and Loneliness in Older Adults: Systematic Umbrella Review |
title_fullStr | Effectiveness of Technology Interventions in Addressing Social Isolation, Connectedness, and Loneliness in Older Adults: Systematic Umbrella Review |
title_full_unstemmed | Effectiveness of Technology Interventions in Addressing Social Isolation, Connectedness, and Loneliness in Older Adults: Systematic Umbrella Review |
title_short | Effectiveness of Technology Interventions in Addressing Social Isolation, Connectedness, and Loneliness in Older Adults: Systematic Umbrella Review |
title_sort | effectiveness of technology interventions in addressing social isolation, connectedness, and loneliness in older adults: systematic umbrella review |
topic | Review |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9641519/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36279155 http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/40125 |
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