OBJECTIVE: This work aims to gain insight into the long-term impact of depression course on social network size and perceived loneliness in older people living in the community. METHODS: Within a large representative sample of older people in the community (Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (LASA)), participants with clinically relevant levels of depressive symptoms (scores >16 on the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale) were followed up over a period of 13 years of the LASA study (five waves). General estimating equations were used to estimate the impact of depression course on network size and loneliness and the interaction with gender and age. RESULTS: An unfavorable course of depression was found to be associated with smaller network sizes and higher levels of loneliness over time, especially in men and older participants. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study stress the importance of clinical attention to the negative consequences of chronicity in depressed older people. Clinicians should assess possible erosion of the social network over time and be aware of increased feelings of loneliness in this patient group.
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BACKGROUND: Global migration has increased in the past century, and aging in a foreign country is relevant to the Chinese diaspora.OBJECTIVE: With regard to migration, this study focuses on the places of aging as the context of older Chinese adults. This study aimed to describe the general health and wellbeing of this population with respect to their location.DESIGN: This study has a cross sectional design.SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Participants were recruited who were "aging in place" from Tianjin, China (199 participants), and "aging out of place" from the Netherlands (134 participants). Data from April to May 2019 in China and November 2018 to March 2019 in the Netherlands were aggregated.MEASUREMENTS: frailty, QoL and loneliness were used in both samples.RESULTS: T-tests and regression analyses demonstrated that social domains of frailty and QoL, as well as loneliness and frailty prevalence characterized the major differences between both places of aging. A correlation analysis and visual correlation network revealed that frailty, quality of life (QoL), and loneliness were more closely related in the aging out of place sample. Social domains of frailty and QoL, as well as the prevalence of loneliness and frailty, characterized the major differences between both places of aging.CONCLUSIONS: The findings indicate that frailty, QoL, and loneliness have a complex relationship, confirming that loneliness is a major detriment to the general wellbeing of older Chinese adults aging out of place. This study examined the places of aging of the larger Chinese population and allows a comprehensive understanding of health and wellbeing. The social components, especially loneliness, among the aging out of place Chinese community should receive more attention practice and clinical wise. On the other hand, frailty as well as its prevention is of more importance for the Chinese community aging in place.
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BACKGROUND: Loneliness is expected to become an even bigger social problem in the upcoming decades, because of the growing number of older adults. It has been argued that the use of social network sites can aid in decreasing loneliness and improving mental health. The purpose of this study was to examine whether and how social network sites usage is related to loneliness and mental health in community-dwelling older adults. METHOD: The study population included community-dwelling older adults aged 60 and over residing in the Netherlands (n = 626) collected through the LISS panel (www.lissdata.nl). Univariate and multivariate linear regression analyses, adjusted for potentially important confounders, were conducted in order to investigate the relation between social network sites usage and (emotional and social) loneliness and mental health. RESULTS: More than half of the individuals (56.2%) reported to use social network sites at least several times per week. Social network sites usage appeared unrelated to loneliness in general, and to emotional and social loneliness in particular. Social network sites usage also appeared unrelated to mental health. Several significant associations between related factors and the outcomes at hand were detected. CONCLUSION: In this sample, which was representative for the Dutch population, social network sites usage was unrelated to loneliness and/or mental health. The results indicate that a simple association between social network site usage and loneliness and mental health as such, cannot automatically be assumed in community-dwelling older adults.
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Digital innovations in the field of immersive Augmented Reality (AR) can be a solution to offer adults who are mentally, physically or financially unable to attend sporting events such as premier league football a stadium and match experience. This allows them to continue to connect with their social networks. In the intended project, AR content will be further developed with the aim of evoking the stadium experience of home matches as much as possible. The extent to which AR enriches the experience is then tested in an experiment, in which the experience of a football match with and without AR enrichment is measured in a stadium setting and in a home setting. The experience is measured with physiological signals. In addition, a subjective experience measure is also being developed and benchmarked (the experience impact score). Societal issueInclusion and health: The joint experience of (top) sports competitions forms a platform for vulnerable adults, with a limited social capital, to build up and maintain the social networks that are so necessary for them. AR to fight against social isolation and loneliness.
Dutch society faces major future challenges putting populations’ health and wellbeing at risk. An ageing population, increase of chronic diseases, multimorbidity and loneliness lead to more complex healthcare demands and needs and costs are increasing rapidly. Urban areas like Amsterdam have to meet specific challenges of a growing and super divers population often with a migration background. The bachelor programs and the relating research groups of social work and occupational therapy at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences innovate their curricula and practice-oriented research by multidisciplinary and cross-domain approaches. Their Centres of Expertise foster interprofessional research and educational innovation on the topics of healthy ageing, participation, daily occupations, positive health, proximity, community connectedness and urban innovation in a social context. By focusing on senior citizens’ lives and by organizing care in peoples own living environment. Together with their networks, this project aims to develop an innovative health promotion program and contribute to the government missions to promote a healthy and inclusive society. Collaboration with stakeholders in practice based on their urgent needs has priority in the context of increasing responsibilities of local governments and communities. Moreover, the government has recently defined social base as being the combination of citizen initiatives, volunteer organizations , caregivers support, professional organizations and support of vulnerable groups. Kraktie Foundations is a community based ethno-cultural organization in south east Amsterdam that seeks to research and expand their informal services to connect with and build with professional care organizations. Their aim coincides with this project proposal: promoting health and wellbeing of senior citizens by combining intervention, participatory research and educational perspectives from social work, occupational therapy and hidden voluntary social work. With a boundary crossing innovation of participatory health research, education and Kraktie’s work in the community we co-create, change and innovate towards sustainable interventions with impact.
A feeling of worry, anxiety, loneliness and anticipation are commonplace in both medical and non-medical arenas such as elderly care. An innovative solution such as the ‘simple and effective’ comfyhand would offer better patient care and improved care efficiency with a high chance of long-term, economic efficiency. ComfyHand is a start-up in the healthcare sector that aims to develop sustainable products to improve patient wellbeing in healthcare settings. It does this by emulating the experience of holding a hand which gives the person comfort and support in moments where real human contact is not possible. Right now the comfyhand is in the development phase, working on several prototypes for test trials in elderly care and hospitals. In this project we want to explore the use of 3D printing for producing a comfyhand. Desired properties for the prototype include optimal heat transfer, softness, regulation of sweat, durability and sustainability. The goal of this study is to develop a prototype to test in a trial with patients within Envida, a care centre. The trial itself is out of scope of this project. This proposal focuses on researching the material of choice and the processability. Building on knowledge gained in a previous Kiem GoChem project and a Use Case (Shape3Dup) of a currently running Raak MKB project (Enlighten) on 3D printing of breast prostheses, several materials, designs and printing parameters will be tested.
