Fokkema C M, van Tilburg T G
NIDI, Den Haag.
Tijdschr Gerontol Geriatr. 2007 Aug;38(4):185-203.
This article focuses on the most important findings of a unique evaluation study of loneliness interventions among older adults. Eighteen interventions have recently been carried out and closely monitored in various parts of the Netherlands. In ten of these interventions the number of participants was sufficiently large to quantitatively determine the effect of the intervention on loneliness. It does not appear to be easy to overcome loneliness: no more than two of the ten interventions resulted in a reduction in loneliness among participants that may be attributed to the intervention. Two other interventions may have had a preventive effect: whereas loneliness increased among members of the control group, it remained more or less constant over time among participants. The effect measurements were followed by process evaluations in an effort to gain insight into the possible reasons why feelings of loneliness were not alleviated among participants in the case of most of the interventions. This resulted in a number of lessons for the future, which may be used as a checklist when designing new interventions projects.
本文聚焦于一项针对老年人孤独干预措施的独特评估研究的最重要发现。荷兰各地最近开展了18项干预措施并进行了密切监测。其中10项干预措施的参与者数量足够多，能够定量确定干预措施对孤独感的影响。克服孤独感似乎并非易事：在这10项干预措施中，只有两项导致参与者的孤独感有所降低，且这种降低可能归因于干预措施。另外两项干预措施可能起到了预防作用：对照组成员的孤独感增加了，而参与者的孤独感则随时间基本保持不变。在进行效果评估之后，又开展了过程评估，以便深入了解在大多数干预措施中参与者的孤独感为何未得到缓解的可能原因。这带来了一些未来可吸取的经验教训，在设计新的干预项目时可用作一份清单。
