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Open Access Impact of a Community-based Intervention Addressing Loneliness and Health-related Quality of Life (HRQoL) among Seniors

This article is Open Access under the terms of the Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND licence.

Objectives: Addressing health behaviors and loneliness, social and behavioral drivers of health (SBDoH), through a culturally competent community-based peer support intervention may be effective in improving self-reported outcomes for seniors. We evaluated whether such an intervention improves loneliness and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Methods: We carried out a cohort study following Medicare Advantage (MA) enrollees of a health plan in Georgia between January and December 2021, collecting 6-month patient-reported outcome measures (PROM) on loneliness and healthy days for recipients of a community-based intervention, Connect for Life (CFL), versus controls. Logistic regression estimated the odds of transitioning from lonely to not lonely and having at least a 15% improvement in self-reported healthy days, adjusting for baseline characteristics. Results: Compared to controls (N=254), intervention participants (N=711) had statistically significant increases in transitioning from lonely to not lonely (OR = 3.77, 95% CI [3.52-4.09]) and having a 15% improvement in healthy days (OR = 2.04, 95% CI [1.87-2.21]). Conclusions: A community-based program using a hyperlocal, culturally competent intervention may be an effective at improving loneliness and perception of health in the MA population. Given the link between loneliness and healthcare costs, studies of financial impact of loneliness interventions would be valuable.

Keywords: DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH; HEALTH IMPROVEMENT; HEALTH OUTCOMES; HEALTH-RELATED QUALITY OF LIFE; LONELINESS; SENIOR CITIZENS

Document Type: Research Article

Affiliations: 1: Wider Circle, Redwood City, CA, United States;, Email: [email protected] 2: Humana Inc, Louisville, KY, United States 3: Wider Circle, Redwood City, CA, United States

Publication date: August 1, 2024

This article was made available online on August 31, 2024 as a Fast Track article with title: "Analysis of Factors Influencing Community Resilience during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Case Study from China".

More about this publication?
  • The American Journal of Health Behavior seeks to improve the quality of life through multidisciplinary health efforts in fostering a better understanding of the multidimensional nature of both individuals and social systems as they relate to health behaviors.

    The Journal aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the impact of personal attributes, personality characteristics, behavior patterns, social structure, and processes on health maintenance, health restoration, and health improvement; to disseminate knowledge of holistic, multidisciplinary approaches to designing and implementing effective health programs; and to showcase health behavior analysis skills that have been proven to affect health improvement and recovery.

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