Making Intergenerational Connections Through Arts

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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The purpose of the study is to evaluate the impact on older adults' wellbeing of participating in a 10-week conversation about arts and culture with an international university student whose native language is not English.

Detailed Description
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Older adults residing in subsidized housing will participate in a series of online conversations over 10 weeks about various arts and culture with an international university student enrolled at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB); each weekly session will last for about 30 min to one hour. Participants will complete survey questionnaires before and after the 10-week conversation program, and an exit interview at the end of the conversation program.

Official Title
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Making Intergenerational Connections Through Arts

Conditions
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Older Adults

Intervention / Treatment
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* Behavioral: Conversation about arts and culture


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Live alone older than 60 years old Residence in a subsidized apartment for at least one year Able to carry on a daily conversation with or without hearing aids Intact cognition as indicated by a score of greater than 5 on the Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire (SPMSQ) have a working smart phone that can do video-conferencing being able to provide informed consent Exclusion Criteria: having physical, or sensory (visual or hearing) deficits or language barriers (non-English communicators) that may impede study participation non-English speaker

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 60 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Arms and Interventions

| Intervention/Treatment |
| --- |
|Behavioral: Conversation about arts and culture|intergenerational conversation about arts and culture between older adults and international students who native language is not English.|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Loneliness Scale | (ULS-8, Hays & Dimatteo, 1987) measures one's subjective feelings of loneliness as well as feelings of social isolation. It has 8 items rated on a 4-level frequency score scale (0=never to 3=always) with higher scores indicating a higher degree of loneliness. Some items require reverse scoring. | baseline | 
| University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Loneliness Scale | (ULS-8, Hays & Dimatteo, 1987) measures one's subjective feelings of loneliness as well as feelings of social isolation. It has 8 items rated on a 4-level frequency score scale (0=never to 3=always) with higher scores indicating a higher degree of loneliness. Some items require reverse scoring. | at 10 weeks | 
| University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Loneliness Scale | (ULS-8, Hays & Dimatteo, 1987) measures one's subjective feelings of loneliness as well as feelings of social isolation. It has 8 items rated on a 4-level frequency score scale (0=never to 3=always) with higher scores indicating a higher degree of loneliness. Some items require reverse scoring. | at 2 months | 
| De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale | De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale - 6 items) measures one's emotional loneliness (lack of intimate relationship, 3 items) and social loneliness (lack of wider social network, 3 items). There are negatively (1-3) and positively (4-6) worded items. On the negatively worded items, the neutral and positive answers are scored as 1. Therefore, on questions 1-3 score Yes=1, More or less=1, and No=0. On the positively worded items, the neutral and negative answers are scored as 1. Therefore, on questions 4-6, score Yes=0, More or less=1, and No=1. This gives a possible range of scores from 0 to 6, with 0=least lonely, and 6=most lonely. | baseline | 
| De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale | De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale - 6 items) measures one's emotional loneliness (lack of intimate relationship, 3 items) and social loneliness (lack of wider social network, 3 items). There are negatively (1-3) and positively (4-6) worded items. On the negatively worded items, the neutral and positive answers are scored as 1. Therefore, on questions 1-3 score Yes=1, More or less=1, and No=0. On the positively worded items, the neutral and negative answers are scored as 1. Therefore, on questions 4-6, score Yes=0, More or less=1, and No=1. This gives a possible range of scores from 0 to 6, with 0=least lonely, and 6=most lonely. | at 10 weeks | 
| De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale | De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale - 6 items) measures one's emotional loneliness (lack of intimate relationship, 3 items) and social loneliness (lack of wider social network, 3 items). There are negatively (1-3) and positively (4-6) worded items. On the negatively worded items, the neutral and positive answers are scored as 1. Therefore, on questions 1-3 score Yes=1, More or less=1, and No=0. On the positively worded items, the neutral and negative answers are scored as 1. Therefore, on questions 4-6, score Yes=0, More or less=1, and No=1. This gives a possible range of scores from 0 to 6, with 0=least lonely, and 6=most lonely. | at 2 months | 
| Social Connectedness Scale (SCS) | It has 8 items rated on a 6-point Likert-type scale (1=strongly agree to 6=strongly disagree) with higher scores indicating a more reported sense of social connectedness and belongingness. | baseline | 
| Social Connectedness Scale (SCS) | It has 8 items rated on a 6-point Likert-type scale (1=strongly agree to 6=strongly disagree) with higher scores indicating a more reported sense of social connectedness and belongingness. | at 10 weeks | 
| Social Connectedness Scale (SCS) | It has 8 items rated on a 6-point Likert-type scale (1=strongly agree to 6=strongly disagree) with higher scores indicating a more reported sense of social connectedness and belongingness. | at 2 months | 
| Medical Outcomes Study Social Support Survey (MOSSS) | It has 3 items rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale ( 'none of the time' = 1 to 'all of the time' = 5) with higher scores indicating a more positive social interaction. | baseline | 
| Medical Outcomes Study Social Support Survey (MOSSS) | It has 3 items rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale ( 'none of the time' = 1 to 'all of the time' = 5) with higher scores indicating a more positive social interaction. | at 10 weeks | 
| Medical Outcomes Study Social Support Survey (MOSSS) | It has 3 items rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale ( 'none of the time' = 1 to 'all of the time' = 5) with higher scores indicating a more positive social interaction. | at 2 months | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) | SWLS (Diener et al., 1985) is used to evaluate the global self-assessment of one's quality of life. The SWLS consists of five statements where participants indicated how much they agreed or disagreed with each statement about their life satisfaction using a 7-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree. Higher scores indicate more satisfaction with one's life. | baseline | 
| Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) | SWLS (Diener et al., 1985) is used to evaluate the global self-assessment of one's quality of life. The SWLS consists of five statements where participants indicated how much they agreed or disagreed with each statement about their life satisfaction using a 7-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree. Higher scores indicate more satisfaction with one's life. | at 10 weeks | 
| Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) | SWLS (Diener et al., 1985) is used to evaluate the global self-assessment of one's quality of life. The SWLS consists of five statements where participants indicated how much they agreed or disagreed with each statement about their life satisfaction using a 7-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree. Higher scores indicate more satisfaction with one's life. | at 2 months | 
| Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS) | The WEMWBS is intended to measure a person's functioning aspects of mental well-being (Stranges et al., 2014). The scale consists of 14 items, with each item rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale (1 = none of the time to 5 = all of the time). The total scores range from 14 to 70, with higher scores indicating greater mental well-being. | baseline | 
| Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS) | The WEMWBS is intended to measure a person's functioning aspects of mental well-being (Stranges et al., 2014). The scale consists of 14 items, with each item rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale (1 = none of the time to 5 = all of the time). The total scores range from 14 to 70, with higher scores indicating greater mental well-being. | at 10 weeks | 
| Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS) | The WEMWBS is intended to measure a person's functioning aspects of mental well-being (Stranges et al., 2014). The scale consists of 14 items, with each item rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale (1 = none of the time to 5 = all of the time). The total scores range from 14 to 70, with higher scores indicating greater mental well-being. | at 2 months | 
| Patient Health Questionnaire - 9 items (PHQ-9) | is to measure for depression, where participants are asked to rate how often they were bothered by specific symptoms over the last two weeks. It has 9 items rated on a 4-level frequency score scale (0=not at all to 3=nearly every day) with higher scores indicating greater symptoms of depression. | baseline | 
| Patient Health Questionnaire - 9 items (PHQ-9) | is to measure for depression, where participants are asked to rate how often they were bothered by specific symptoms over the last two weeks. It has 9 items rated on a 4-level frequency score scale (0=not at all to 3=nearly every day) with higher scores indicating greater symptoms of depression. | at 10 weeks | 
| Patient Health Questionnaire - 9 items (PHQ-9) | is to measure for depression, where participants are asked to rate how often they were bothered by specific symptoms over the last two weeks. It has 9 items rated on a 4-level frequency score scale (0=not at all to 3=nearly every day) with higher scores indicating greater symptoms of depression. | at 2 months |