Making Intergenerational Connections Through Arts

The purpose of the study is to evaluate the impact on older adults' wellbeing of participating in a 10-week conversation about arts and culture with an international university student whose native language is not English.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Older Adults
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Conversation about arts and culture

Detailed Description

Older adults residing in subsidized housing will participate in a series of online conversations over 10 weeks about various arts and culture with an international university student enrolled at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB); each weekly session will last for about 30 min to one hour.

Participants will complete survey questionnaires before and after the 10-week conversation program, and an exit interview at the end of the conversation program.

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Estimated): 30

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Hon K Yuen, PhD; Phone Number: 2059346301; Email: yuen@uab.edu

Study Locations

• United States
  • Alabama
    • Birmingham, Alabama, United States, 35294
      • Recruiting
      • University of Alabama at Birmingham
      • Contact: Hon K Yuen, PhD
      • Principal Investigator: Hon K Yuen, PhD

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

• Sampling Method: Probability Sample

Study Population

residents living in low income housing

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Live alone
2. older than 60 years old
3. Residence in a subsidized apartment for at least one year
4. Able to carry on a daily conversation with or without hearing aids
5. Intact cognition as indicated by a score of greater than 5 on the Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire (SPMSQ)
6. have a working smart phone that can do video-conferencing
7. being able to provide informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

1. having physical, or sensory (visual or hearing) deficits or language barriers (non-English communicators) that may impede study participation
2. non-English speaker

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Loneliness Scale	(ULS-8, Hays & Dimatteo, 1987) measures one's subjective feelings of loneliness as well as feelings of social isolation. It has 8 items rated on a 4-level frequency score scale (0=never to 3=always) with higher scores indicating a higher degree of loneliness. Some items require reverse scoring.	baseline
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Loneliness Scale	(ULS-8, Hays & Dimatteo, 1987) measures one's subjective feelings of loneliness as well as feelings of social isolation. It has 8 items rated on a 4-level frequency score scale (0=never to 3=always) with higher scores indicating a higher degree of loneliness. Some items require reverse scoring.	at 10 weeks
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Loneliness Scale	(ULS-8, Hays & Dimatteo, 1987) measures one's subjective feelings of loneliness as well as feelings of social isolation. It has 8 items rated on a 4-level frequency score scale (0=never to 3=always) with higher scores indicating a higher degree of loneliness. Some items require reverse scoring.	at 2 months
De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale	De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale - 6 items) measures one's emotional loneliness (lack of intimate relationship, 3 items) and social loneliness (lack of wider social network, 3 items). There are negatively (1-3) and positively (4-6) worded items. On the negatively worded items, the neutral and positive answers are scored as "1". Therefore, on questions 1-3 score Yes=1, More or less=1, and No=0. On the positively worded items, the neutral and negative answers are scored as "1". Therefore, on questions 4-6, score Yes=0, More or less=1, and No=1. This gives a possible range of scores from 0 to 6, with 0=least lonely, and 6=most lonely.	baseline
De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale	De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale - 6 items) measures one's emotional loneliness (lack of intimate relationship, 3 items) and social loneliness (lack of wider social network, 3 items). There are negatively (1-3) and positively (4-6) worded items. On the negatively worded items, the neutral and positive answers are scored as "1". Therefore, on questions 1-3 score Yes=1, More or less=1, and No=0. On the positively worded items, the neutral and negative answers are scored as "1". Therefore, on questions 4-6, score Yes=0, More or less=1, and No=1. This gives a possible range of scores from 0 to 6, with 0=least lonely, and 6=most lonely.	at 10 weeks
De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale	De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale - 6 items) measures one's emotional loneliness (lack of intimate relationship, 3 items) and social loneliness (lack of wider social network, 3 items). There are negatively (1-3) and positively (4-6) worded items. On the negatively worded items, the neutral and positive answers are scored as "1". Therefore, on questions 1-3 score Yes=1, More or less=1, and No=0. On the positively worded items, the neutral and negative answers are scored as "1". Therefore, on questions 4-6, score Yes=0, More or less=1, and No=1. This gives a possible range of scores from 0 to 6, with 0=least lonely, and 6=most lonely.	at 2 months
Social Connectedness Scale (SCS)	It has 8 items rated on a 6-point Likert-type scale (1=strongly agree to 6=strongly disagree) with higher scores indicating a more reported sense of social connectedness and belongingness.	baseline
Social Connectedness Scale (SCS)	It has 8 items rated on a 6-point Likert-type scale (1=strongly agree to 6=strongly disagree) with higher scores indicating a more reported sense of social connectedness and belongingness.	at 10 weeks
Social Connectedness Scale (SCS)	It has 8 items rated on a 6-point Likert-type scale (1=strongly agree to 6=strongly disagree) with higher scores indicating a more reported sense of social connectedness and belongingness.	at 2 months
Medical Outcomes Study Social Support Survey (MOSSS)	It has 3 items rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale ( 'none of the time' = 1 to 'all of the time' = 5) with higher scores indicating a more positive social interaction.	baseline
Medical Outcomes Study Social Support Survey (MOSSS)	It has 3 items rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale ( 'none of the time' = 1 to 'all of the time' = 5) with higher scores indicating a more positive social interaction.	at 10 weeks
Medical Outcomes Study Social Support Survey (MOSSS)	It has 3 items rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale ( 'none of the time' = 1 to 'all of the time' = 5) with higher scores indicating a more positive social interaction.	at 2 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS)	SWLS (Diener et al., 1985) is used to evaluate the global self-assessment of one's quality of life. The SWLS consists of five statements where participants indicated how much they agreed or disagreed with each statement about their life satisfaction using a 7-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree. Higher scores indicate more satisfaction with one's life.	baseline
Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS)	SWLS (Diener et al., 1985) is used to evaluate the global self-assessment of one's quality of life. The SWLS consists of five statements where participants indicated how much they agreed or disagreed with each statement about their life satisfaction using a 7-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree. Higher scores indicate more satisfaction with one's life.	at 10 weeks
Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS)	SWLS (Diener et al., 1985) is used to evaluate the global self-assessment of one's quality of life. The SWLS consists of five statements where participants indicated how much they agreed or disagreed with each statement about their life satisfaction using a 7-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree. Higher scores indicate more satisfaction with one's life.	at 2 months
Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS)	The WEMWBS is intended to measure a person's functioning aspects of mental well-being (Stranges et al., 2014). The scale consists of 14 items, with each item rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale (1 = none of the time to 5 = all of the time). The total scores range from 14 to 70, with higher scores indicating greater mental well-being.	baseline
Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS)	The WEMWBS is intended to measure a person's functioning aspects of mental well-being (Stranges et al., 2014). The scale consists of 14 items, with each item rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale (1 = none of the time to 5 = all of the time). The total scores range from 14 to 70, with higher scores indicating greater mental well-being.	at 10 weeks
Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS)	The WEMWBS is intended to measure a person's functioning aspects of mental well-being (Stranges et al., 2014). The scale consists of 14 items, with each item rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale (1 = none of the time to 5 = all of the time). The total scores range from 14 to 70, with higher scores indicating greater mental well-being.	at 2 months
Patient Health Questionnaire - 9 items (PHQ-9)	is to measure for depression, where participants are asked to rate how often they were bothered by specific symptoms over the last two weeks. It has 9 items rated on a 4-level frequency score scale (0=not at all to 3=nearly every day) with higher scores indicating greater symptoms of depression.	baseline
Patient Health Questionnaire - 9 items (PHQ-9)	is to measure for depression, where participants are asked to rate how often they were bothered by specific symptoms over the last two weeks. It has 9 items rated on a 4-level frequency score scale (0=not at all to 3=nearly every day) with higher scores indicating greater symptoms of depression.	at 10 weeks
Patient Health Questionnaire - 9 items (PHQ-9)	is to measure for depression, where participants are asked to rate how often they were bothered by specific symptoms over the last two weeks. It has 9 items rated on a 4-level frequency score scale (0=not at all to 3=nearly every day) with higher scores indicating greater symptoms of depression.	at 2 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Alabama at Birmingham
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Hon K Yuen, PhD, University of Alabama at Birmingham

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): October 2, 2023
• Primary Completion (Estimated): August 31, 2029
• Study Completion (Estimated): September 1, 2029

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: August 2, 2023
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 2, 2023
• First Posted (Actual): August 14, 2023

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): August 8, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 4, 2025
• Last Verified: August 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: IRB-300008546

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
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No