Virtual Senior Center (VSC)

Achieving Digital Equity for Health Improvement in a Virtual Senior Center

In a 3-group trial with randomization and follow-up for 12 months, we will compare use of the VSC as well as health and quality of life outcomes among 650 older adults in St. Louis who receive either: (1) home delivered meals AND a GrandPad; (2) home-delivered meals but no GrandPad for 6 months; and (3) in person meals at senior center but no GrandPad.

Study Overview

• Status: Enrolling by invitation
• Conditions: Activities of Daily Living; Social Isolation in Older Adults; Quality of Life (QOL)
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Virtual Senior Center - GrandPad; Behavioral: Virtual Senior Center - No GrandPad

Detailed Description

The aims of the study are:

1. Recruit 650 older adults in St. Louis into the study - 400 home-delivered meal recipients and 250 receiving in-person meals at senior centers. Describe baseline differences between the two groups in use of senior center programming, technology access and use, and health and quality of life outcomes.
2. Randomly assign the 400 home-delivered meal recipients to get a GrandPad immediately (GP) or 6 months later (GP-6). Compare the GP and GP-6 groups to in-person meal recipients (IP) on: (A) VSC engagement at 6- and 12-month follow-up; and (B) health and quality of life outcomes at 6- and 12-month follow-up.
3. Examine longitudinal changes and hypothesized mediating pathways using 5 waves of data from baseline, 3-,6-,9- and 12-month follow-up. Specifically: (A) in the GP-6 group only, compare VSC engagement, health and quality of life outcomes at 6-month follow-up (a period in which they did not have a GrandPad) to 12-month follow-up (a period in which they did have a GrandPad); (B) examine 12-month trends in GrandPad and VSC engagement, health and quality of life outcomes within and across groups; and (C) test mediation of hypothesized explanatory variables from the study's conceptual framework to examine potential causal pathways for health and quality of life outcomes.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 650
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Missouri
    • St Louis, Missouri, United States, 63101
      • Washington University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

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

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Current Home-delivered meal client with Aging Ahead

Exclusion Criteria:

• Under age 65

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Number of Arms

3

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: GrandPad1; This group will receive a GrandPad right away after they complete the baseline survey	Behavioral: Virtual Senior Center - GrandPad; The Virtual Senior Center engages older adults in programs and services online with the help of a GrandPad.
Other: GrandPad2 - 6mo; Delayed interventional. This group will receive a GrandPad after 6 months.	Behavioral: Virtual Senior Center - GrandPad; The Virtual Senior Center engages older adults in programs and services online with the help of a GrandPad.
Active Comparator: Congregate; This group will not receive a GrandPad but will get access to the Virtual Senior Center	Behavioral: Virtual Senior Center - No GrandPad; Participants will be given information to access the website when they are able from their own phone, tablet, or computer.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
The Social Isolation Scale in Older Adults (Nicholson et al., 2020; The Gerontologist)	This 6-item questionnaire measures the extent to which an individual feels socially unconnected, using 2 related constructs (3 items per construct): quantity of social contacts and sense of relationship. The response options for social contacts ranges from 1 (none) to 5 (6 or more) and the sense of relationship ranges from 1(strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). The possible summed scores range from 6 to 30, with higher scores indicating less social isolation.	12 month

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Digital Social Participation (Anderberg et al., 2021; JMIR)	This 6-item questionnaire measures extent to which someone feels that digital technology is beneficial in their life. Response options range from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree), so total summed scores range from 6 -30. A higher scores indicates more positive perceptions of digital technology.	12 month

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Washington University School of Medicine
• Collaborators: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Matthew Kreuter, PhD, MPH, Washington University School of Medicine

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): April 23, 2025
• Primary Completion (Estimated): December 1, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): January 1, 2028

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 13, 2025
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 18, 2025
• First Posted (Actual): April 27, 2025

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): July 17, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 15, 2026
• Last Verified: July 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: digital access for older adults
• Other Study ID Numbers: 202408007; OT2HL158287 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES

IPD Plan Description

The raw survey response data including dates collected, as well as participant ID codes generated for this study will be shared in order to link the five waves of survey data as well as documentation of participation. All respondent identifiers (e.g., names, addresses) will be removed before sharing. Final de-identified intervention data and Common Survey 4 data will be shared with the CEAL (community engagement Alliance) Technical Assistance Team. Other CEAL researchers will be allowed to request common survey data.

We will share all publicly accessible files on WashU Research Data, an institutional repository managed by the Washington University in St. Louis Libraries that uses a cloud-based hosted repository service called TIND as its platform. TIND is based on the open-source Invenio software developed at the research institute CERN to manage its own scholarly output. TIND uses an OAIS-compliant approach to preservation, with redundancy backup, conversion to archival file format

• IPD Sharing Time Frame: 3/31/28 - indefinitely
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: Users must register with the repository and agree to the License specified for the project. This license will allow users to adapt and build upon the materials in any format for noncommercial purposes only and so long as attribution is given to the original creators and grant funding. Any adapted or new data formats and accompanying descriptions will also need to be publicly available under identical terms as the original. Additionally, the license will protect study participants by limiting data use to scientific research and aggregate statistical reporting, prohibit attempts to identify study participants, and require immediate reporting of any identification of study participant's identity. Data users also agree not to share or redistribute any data downloads.
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: ANALYTIC_CODE

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No