Alleviating Loneliness in Older Adults Living in Poverty: A Multi-level Intervention
Alleviating Loneliness in Older Adults Living in Poverty: A Multi-level Intervention
The study aims to reduce loneliness among Hong Kong Chinese older adults living in poverty with a multi-level intervention involving components at the individual, interpersonal, and community levels.
Loneliness is widespread, with negative impacts on both individuals and society and associated direct and indirect healthcare and long-term care costs. Thus, it is imperative to alleviate loneliness in old age by implementing effective, accessible, affordable, and scalable interventions. Loneliness is often erroneously considered an individual problem due to personal failure. Still, growing evidence indicates that loneliness is caused by factors at multiple levels, including the individual, interpersonal, and community levels. Hence, a multi-level approach is recommended to alleviate loneliness.
However, multi-level interventions for reducing loneliness are in their infancy, and there is yet to be evidence to suggest that they are more effective than single-level interventions. The investigators will conduct an innovative and impactful study to fill this important research gap. This study is a single-blinded cluster, four-arm randomized controlled trial (RCT) designed to test the effect and cost-effectiveness of a multi-level intervention to alleviate loneliness among Hong Kong Chinese older adults living in poverty. The investigators will also adopt the modified biopsychosocial (BPS) model, called the BPS-Pathways model, as the theoretical framework to guide our selection of interventions, mediators, secondary outcomes, long-term outcomes, and impact.
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