Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, School of Public Health, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA.
Center for Population Health and Aging, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA.
Chronic Illn. 2023 Sep;19(3):646-664. doi: 10.1177/17423953221113604. Epub 2022 Aug 11.
With about half of older adults reporting feelings of loneliness, interventions are needed to improve connectedness among our aging population. The health benefits of Chronic Disease Self-Management Education (CDSME) programs are well documented, but workshops' ability to reduce loneliness remains unknown.
Using the Campaign to End Loneliness Measurement Tool, we examined 295 CDSME participants' loneliness changes before and after the 6-week face-to-face workshops. Statistical analyzes used generalized estimating equations (GEE).
On average, participants were age 74.3(±8.9) years and self-reported 3.3(±2.2) chronic conditions. The majority of participants were female (83%) and attended workshops in English (77%). Significant reductions in loneliness scores were observed from baseline to post-workshop ( < 0.001).
Findings expand our understanding about the benefits of small-group CDSME workshops to reduce loneliness among participants. CDSME workshops may reduce loneliness because of their highly interactive and process-driven format and ability to create bonds between participants with chronic conditions and shared experiences.
约有一半的老年人感到孤独，因此我们需要采取干预措施来增强我们老年人群体之间的联系。慢性病自我管理教育（CDSME）计划对健康的益处已有充分的记录，但这些课程是否能减轻孤独感仍不得而知。
我们使用结束孤独感运动的测量工具，在 6 周的面对面课程前后，检查了 295 名 CDSME 参与者的孤独感变化。统计分析使用广义估计方程（GEE）。
参与者的平均年龄为 74.3（±8.9）岁，自我报告有 3.3（±2.2）种慢性疾病。大多数参与者为女性（83%），并以英语参加课程（77%）。从基线到课后，孤独感评分显著降低（<0.001）。
这些发现扩展了我们对小组 CDSME 课程在减少参与者孤独感方面的益处的理解。CDSME 课程可能会减轻孤独感，因为它们具有高度互动和以过程为导向的模式，以及在患有慢性疾病和有共同经历的参与者之间建立联系的能力。
