Penpal Loneliness Project

December 10, 2021 updated by: Susan B. Laabs, Mayo Clinic

Reducing Loneliness With Penpal Connections

The purpose of this research is to study whether sending letters helps reduce loneliness for either the facility resident or the teenager.

Study Overview

Status

Withdrawn

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Hypothesis: Our hypothesis is that a social program connecting patients in residential care facilities with high school students through monthly letter writing would positively impact quality of life for both, reducing quantitative and qualitiative measures of loneliness

Aims, purpose, or objectives:

Our objective is to reduce loneliness and increase quality of life for patients residing in residential care facilities and for high school students.

Background (Include relevant experience, gaps in current knowledge, preliminary data, etc.):

In response to the Covid pandemic, to protect their residents, residential care facilities have implemented restrictions limiting visitors as well as social activities. Anecdoctally this has negative impacted the quality of life of those residents, increasing their loneliness. Previous studies have shown positive impact of intergenerational programs including penpal programs.

Study Type

Interventional

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

15 years and older (Child, Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Care facility residents with capacity to make decisions:
  • Measured via their most recent cognitive assessment;
  • Subjectively measured via nursing staff.
  • High school students will be invited via recommendation of their instructors and school administrative staff:
  • Parental permission will be required.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Care facility residents that have significant cognitive impairment.
  • Residents who lack decision-making capacity.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Other
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Penpal Program to Alleviate Loneliness
A social program connecting patients in residential care facilities with high school students through monthly letter writing would positively impact quality of life for both, reducing quantitative and qualitative measures of loneliness
Other: Letters to increase social connection with goal to alleviate loneliness
Our hypothesis is that a social program connecting patients in residential care facilities with high school students through monthly letter writing would positively impact quality of life for both, reducing quantitative and qualitiative measures of loneliness
Other Names:
  • Letters

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Loneliness Alleviation with Letter Writing
Time Frame: 6 months; may be extended
Writing letters between Long Term Care Residents and Students: Increasing Connection to Alleviate Loneliness
6 months; may be extended

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Mayo Clinic

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Susan Laabs, MD, Mayo Clinic

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

Helpful Links

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Anticipated)

September 15, 2021

Primary Completion (Anticipated)

March 15, 2022

Study Completion (Anticipated)

March 20, 2022

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

March 11, 2021

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 11, 2021

First Posted (Actual)

March 15, 2021

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

December 30, 2021

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

December 10, 2021

Last Verified

December 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 20-009976

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

No

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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