Effectiveness of a community-based integrated service model for older adults living alone: A nonrandomized prospective study

Outcomes of the Together for Life Program in Community-Dwelling Older Adults Living Alone: A Pilot Study

PURPOSE

The current study developed and tested selected effects of the Together for Life (TFL) program for community-dwelling older adults using an embedded mixed methods design.

METHOD

Nine community volunteers participated in the training program, and 14 people aged ≥65 years, living alone, enrolled in the study. Home visits were conducted by home health nurses every 2 weeks, supplemented by weekly home visits and phone counseling provided by volunteers, for a duration of 20 weeks. This mixed methods study used quantitative and qualitative approaches. Quantitative data were gathered through a questionnaire survey to assess the intervention's effects on health-related quality of life (HRQOL), loneliness, and depression. The qualitative component focused on participants' evaluation of the program.

RESULTS

Significant changes were noted in HRQOL scores with an effect size of 0.6 (p = 0.01). Results indicated the positive impact of the TFL program on HRQOL among older adults as their health status was continuously monitored by volunteers who provided care and home health nurses who assisted with health management during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

CONCLUSION

In a pandemic, personalized health management, such as regular health check-ins provided by home health nurses and home or phone visits provided by volunteers, is crucial for isolated older adults. This pilot program enhanced participants' HRQOL through continuous health monitoring, volunteer care, and nurse support, even during the COVID-19 pandemic. [Journal of Gerontological Nursing, xx(x), xx-xx.].

Rehabilitation delivery models to foster healthy ageing-a scoping review

Introduction

Rehabilitation is essential to foster healthy ageing. Older adults have unique rehabilitation needs due to a higher prevalence of non-communicable diseases, higher susceptibility to infectious diseases, injuries, and mental health conditions. However, there is limited understanding of how rehabilitation is delivered to older adults. To address this gap, we conducted a scoping review to describe rehabilitation delivery models used to optimise older adults' functioning/functional ability and foster healthy ageing.

Methods

We searched Medline and Embase (January 2015 to May 2022) for primary studies published in English describing approaches to provide rehabilitation to older adults. Three authors screened records for eligibility and extracted data independently and in duplicate. Data synthesis included descriptive quantitative analysis of study and rehabilitation provision characteristics, and qualitative analysis to identify rehabilitation delivery models.

Results

Out of 6,933 identified records, 585 articles were assessed for eligibility, and 283 studies with 69,257 participants were included. We identified six rehabilitation delivery models: outpatient (24%), telerehabilitation (22%), home (18.5%), community (16.3%), inpatient (14.6%), and eldercare (4.7%). These models often involved multidisciplinary teams (31.5%) and follow integrated care principles (30.4%). Most studies used a disease-centred approach (59.0%), while studies addressing multimorbidity (6.0%) and prevalent health problems of older adults, such as pain, low hearing, and vision, or incontinence were scarce. The most frequently provided interventions were therapeutic exercises (54.1%), self-management education (40.1%), and assessment of person-centred goals (40%). Other interventions, such as assistive technology (8.1%) and environmental adaptations (7.4%) were infrequent.

Conclusions

Focusing on primary studies, this scoping review provides an overview of rehabilitation delivery models that are used to foster healthy ageing and highlights research gaps that require further attention, including a lack of systematic assessment of functioning/functional ability, a predominance of disease-centred rehabilitation, and a scarcity of programmes addressing prevalent issues like pain, hearing/vision loss, fall prevention, incontinence, and sexual dysfunctions. Our research can facilitate evidence-based decision-making and inspire further research and innovation in rehabilitation and healthy ageing. Limitations of our study include reliance on published research to infer practice and not assessing model effectiveness. Future research in the field is needed to expand and validate our findings.

Can tailored home-delivered meal services alleviate self-rated frailty of the low-income older adults in Korea?

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to examine whether the tailored home-delivered meal (HDM) services included nutrition counseling impacts alleviating self-rated frailty among low-income older adults in Korea.

SUBJECTS/METHODS

Pre- and post-test were implemented on May 27 and on November 25 in 2019 during 3 weeks, respectively, before and after the 6 months intervention program. Participants completed a questionnaire measuring frailty, malnutrition, food security, depression, and underlying diseases. Initially, 136 older adults were selected as participants for this study, they were recipients of a free meal program from 2 senior welfare centers in Seoul, the final sample size of those who completed the intervention program was 117 (female 70.9%, male 29.1%). Statistical analyses were conducted with IBM SPSS package program, paired t-test and χ2 test to validate the test.

RESULTS

There were statistically significant differences in the score of the Tilburg Frailty Indicator (TFI) before and after receiving the tailored HDM services (pre-test 9.46, post-test 2.8, P < 0.01). The differences in the score of TFI by 3 risk groups at the pre-test decreased as a result of receiving these services.

CONCLUSIONS

The tailored HDM services alleviated the self-rated frailty of low-income older adults with limited mobility in a community setting. Based on the positive outcomes this study could be applied to developing social services for aging in place.

Leveraging network analysis to determine sex differences in factors associated with frailty among older adults living alone

BACKGROUND

Frailty is a complex geriatric syndrome typically characterized by multiple underlying etiological factors. We determined the contributing factors, by sex, using a network analysis.

METHODS

The study sample consisted of a cross-sectional cohort of community-dwelling older adults aged ≥ 65 years living alone in a Korean city (N = 1,037). Frailty was assessed via the Korean Frailty Index. Participants were assessed for sociodemographic, health-related, mental and cognitive, and social characteristics. Mixed graphical models including all variables were estimated using the R-package mgm discretely by sex. We also used the Walktrap cluster algorithm to identify differences in the network structure in terms of connectivity around frailty between the sex groups for further insights.

RESULTS

In both the networks for males and females, frailty correlated most strongly with nutritional status, presence of complex chronic disease, and self-efficacy, and exhibited proximity to decreased sleep quality and loneliness. However, frailty showed an association with suicidal ideation and the number of falls per year only in males, whereas it showed an association with functional disabilities only in females. The overall network connectivity around frailty was stronger with dense interactions (more edges) in the network for females than for males.

CONCLUSIONS

The results signify the need for sex-group customized multi-domain assessments and interventions for the prevention and improvement of frailty among community-dwelling older adults.

Impact of COVID-19 on the social relationships and mental health of older adults living alone: A two-year prospective cohort study

Background

Owing to the COVID-19 outbreak, older adults living alone, who can only connect socially outside their homes, are at risk of social isolation and poor mental health. This study aimed to identify the changes, before and after COVID-19, by sex and age, in social relationships (social activity, social network, and social support) and mental health (depression and suicide ideation) among older adults living alone.

Methods

This is a prospective cohort study of community-dwelling older adults who were at least 65 years old and living alone in South Korea. The study was conducted during 2018–2020 with 2,291 participants (795, 771, and 725 for the 1st to 3rd waves, respectively). The data were collected via face-to-face interviews. A generalized linear mixed modeling framework was used to test for changes over three years.

Results

Social activity was reduced after the COVID-19, with an interaction effect of sex: older women (odds ratio [OR], 0.19; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.15–0.23; p < .001) showed greater reduction than older men (OR, 0.50; 95% CI, 0.34–0.75; p < .001). Interaction with neighbors also reduced after the pandemic, but there was no significant evidence of interaction effects. Interaction with family members increased in both sexes during the pandemic, with the interaction effect of sex: older women (OR, 1.40; 95% CI, 1.11–1.76; p = .004) showed greater increase than men (OR, 1.55; 95% CI, 1.13–2.14; p = .007). Social support increased in both sexes during the pandemic, but there was no significant evidence of interaction effects. Depression and suicide ideation showed no significant differences before and after the pandemic.

Conclusions

The findings provide health administrators and health providers with explorative insights into the impact of the COVID-19 on social relationships and mental health among older adults living alone and can guide further studies of interventions considering specific properties of social relationships.

Subjective life expectancy of middle-aged and older adult cancer survivors: A cross-sectional study in Korea using age-specific subgroup analysis

OBJECTIVE

As the population ages and the survival rate of cancer patients increases, long-term management of older adult cancer survivors has become important. Subjective life expectancy (SLE) is a concept that refers to an individual's particular predicted lifespan, which enables individuals to live an active life with hopeful expectations for the extension of a healthy life. Therefore, this study aims to identify the factors related to SLE according to age group, to help enable middle-aged and older adult cancer survivors to actively live out their lives with a sense of control.

DESIGN

A descriptive, cross-sectional study was used.

METHODS

This study included 538 participants in the fifth to seventh survey data of the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging dataset. Moreover, we conducted multivariable regression analyses.

RESULTS

The participants of this study were 137 middle-aged (under 64 years), 196 young-old (65-74 years), 164 old-old (75-84 years) and 41 oldest-old (over 85 years) cancer survivors. The mean age of the participants was 71.22 ± 9.4 years. The factors related to SLE were employment status (β = 7.43, p = 0.018) and quality of life (QOL) (β = 0.25, p = 0.010) for the middle-aged group and age (β = -1.50, p = 0.002) and employment status (β = 10.44, p = 0.003), and QOL (β = 0.31, p < 0.001) in the young-old group; in the old-old group and oldest-old group, the predictors of SLE were QOL (β = 0.35, p = 0.004) and social network (β = 2.76, p = 0.018).

CONCLUSION

The SLE of middle-aged and older adult cancer survivors was different by age group, and related factors also varied by it. Therefore, an individual approach for each age group is required to effectively promote SLE.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

By developing and applying differentiated nursing interventions suitable for each age group for middle-aged and older adult cancer survivors, it should be possible to help them make a healthy transition with positive expectations for life extension.