Older Adults' Experiences in a Web-Based Intervention for Loneliness.

Background: Older adults may be vulnerable to loneliness due to natural and age-related transitions. Lonely older adults are at an increased risk of adverse health outcomes due to their loneliness, including cognitive decline, cardiovascular disease, and mortality. Objective: The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of vulnerable older adults in a web-based loneliness intervention. Methods: Older adult participants in a web-based loneliness intervention (n = 24) participated in semi-structured interviews eliciting feedback about their experience in the program and perceived outcomes. Participants' responses were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Results: Participants reported fewer negative perceptions of their social skills and future social interactions, gaining new social skills, improved relationships, and increased confidence to initiate and maintain social contact. Conclusions: Findings suggest the efficacy of combining a web-based loneliness intervention with cognitive behavioral therapy, and provide implications for future web-based interventions for older adult populations.

The association of increasing resilience with positive health outcomes among older adults.

Our objective was to investigate three levels of resilience (low, medium, and high), identify associated characteristics, and measure the impact of increasing resilience on quality of life (QOL), healthcare utilization and expenditures, and preventive services compliance. The study sample was identified from adults age ≥65 who completed surveys during May-June 2019 (N=3,573). Other protective factors, including purpose-in-life, optimism, locus of control, and social connections, were dichotomized as high/low and counted with equal weighting (0 to 4). Among survey respondents, the prevalence of low, medium, and high resilience levels was 27%, 29%, and 44%, respectively. The strongest predictors of medium and high resilience included increasing number of other protective factors, lower stress, and no depression. Individuals with medium and high resilience had significantly higher QOL and lower healthcare utilization and expenditures. Resilience strategies integrated into healthy aging programming could be associated with improvements in QOL and/or healthcare utilization and expenditure outcomes.