According to sufficiently reported outcomes , social capital interventions showed mixed effects on quality of life , well-being and self-perceived health and were generally ineffective on loneliness , mood and mortality .
Conclusions Our review highlights the lack of evidence and the diversity among trials , while supporting the potential of social capital interventions to reach comprehensive health effects in older adults
Background Observational studies show that social capital is a protective health factor .
Therefore , we aim to assess the currently unclear health impact of social capital interventions targeting older adults .
The Baltimore Experience Corps Trial: Enhancing Generativity via Intergenerational Activity Engagement in Later Life.
OBJECTIVES Being and feeling generative , defined as exhibiting concern and behavior to benefit others , is an important developmental goal of midlife and beyond . Although a growing body of evidence suggests mental and physical health benefits of feeling generative in later life , little information exists as to the modifiability of generativity perceptions . The present study examines whether participation in the intergenerational civic engagement program , Experience Corps ( EC ) , benefits older adults '  self-perceptions of generativity . METHOD Levels of generativity were compared in older adults r and omized to serve as EC volunteers or controls ( usual volunteer opportunities ) in the Baltimore Experience Corps Trial at 4- , 12- , and 24-month evaluation points over the 2-year trial . Analyses utilized intention-to-treat and complier average causal effects ( CACE ) analyses which incorporate degree of intervention exposure in analytic models . RESULTS Participants r and omized to the EC group had significantly higher levels of generative desire and perceptions of generative achievement than controls at each follow-up point ; CACE analyses indicate a dose-response effect with a greater magnitude of intervention effect with greater exposure to the EC program . DISCUSSION Results provide the first-ever , large-scale experimental demonstration that participation in an intergenerational civic engagement program can positively alter self-perceptions of generativity in older adulthood
According to sufficiently reported outcomes , social capital interventions showed mixed effects on quality of life , well-being and self-perceived health and were generally ineffective on loneliness , mood and mortality .
Conclusions Our review highlights the lack of evidence and the diversity among trials , while supporting the potential of social capital interventions to reach comprehensive health effects in older adults
Background Observational studies show that social capital is a protective health factor .
Therefore , we aim to assess the currently unclear health impact of social capital interventions targeting older adults .