Mindfulness for Lonely Older Adults With Emigrant Children

Feasibility and Acceptability of Implementation of Mindfulness-Based Intervention for Community-Dwelling Older Adults With Emigrant Children Suffering From Loneliness: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

This study is to examine the feasibility of a proposed mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) and study methodology for future main study.

The goal of this 3-arm randomized controlled trial is to examine the feasibility of a proposed mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) and study methodology for future main study. It will identify the acceptability, feasibility, and potential effectiveness of the MBI for lonely older adults (OAs) with emigrant children. The main questions it aims to answer are:

1. To what extent is the MBI study process feasible and acceptable for lonely OAs whose children have emigrated?
2. Do subjects in the intervention group show significant improvements in loneliness levels, sleep quality, stress levels, and quality of life (QoL) during follow-up assessments at weeks 12 and 24 compared to baseline?
3. How practical and effective is the recruitment process for enrolling the target study subjects?

Researchers will compare lonely adults with or without out emigrant children to see if MBI to reduce the loneliness level.

Participants will attend a 12-week programme with 8-section face-to-face MBI training, guided by 7 mindfulness video clips plus 4 individual support phone calls, and follow-up at week 12 and 24. In addition, an individual semi-structured interview will be carried out to explore the experience and perceived programme effects of the intervention.

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Chinese adults aged 65 to 75 years,
2. able to communicate and understand Cantonese (class will be held in Cantonese),
3. OAs with or without emigrant children,
4. feeling of loneliness (3-item UCLA ≥6) [25], and
5. living in public housing, reliant on pension, savings, or living in subvented housing.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Acute or severe physical symptoms such as impaired mobility, COPD or respiratory failure, uncontrolled epilepsy, and severe chronic pain syndrome,
2. Abbreviated Mental Test (AMT)< 6 [26],
3. met DSM-V TR criteria for treated or untreated major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, cyclothymic disorder and/or on regular medication treatment,
4. have significant suicidal risk, and
5. previous experience in instructor-led mindfulness training within the half year prior to the commencement of the study.