Kim Ah-Ram, Park Kang-Hyun
Department of Occupational Therapy, College of Health and Medical Services, Sangji University, Wonju, South Korea.
Department of Occupational Therapy, Baekseok University, Cheonan, South Korea.
PLoS One. 2025 May 9;20(5):e0323198. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0323198. eCollection 2025.
Social Isolation and network are crucial factors which affect the quality of life and overall health of older adults. Therefore, in the field of health promotion, there's a growing attention to assess and evaluate the social health including social isolation and network of older adults. This study aimed to develop a Social Isolation and Social Network (SISN) evaluation tool that comprehensively measure the social isolation and network of older adults.
Between April and June 2024, we gathered insights from 23 experts in lifestyle and health. Based on the previous research, a two-round Delphi survey was conducted to obtain expert consensus on key assessment components. In the initial survey, we collected expert's opinions through open and closed-ended questions about social isolation and social network evaluation items. After the first survey, we corrected several items that didn't meet the Content Validity Ratio (CVR) standard before proceeding. We presented the first survey's findings to an expert panel, leading to a consensus.
The initial Delphi round produced 32 items and the second round resulted in 30 items after adjusting those with CVR scores of 0.37 or less. The final CVR was 0.87 with a convergence of 0.87, a consensus level of 0.31 and stability level of 0.12.
This study successfully developed a comprehensive social isolation and social network assessment using a modified Delphi technique. The 30 items are categorized into three sections. The SISN is able to provide a systematic approach to evaluate social isolation and social network of older adults. Future studies should be conducted to examine the reliability and validity.
社会隔离和社交网络是影响老年人生活质量和整体健康的关键因素。因此，在健康促进领域，对评估老年人的社会健康（包括社会隔离和社交网络）的关注日益增加。本研究旨在开发一种社会隔离与社交网络（SISN）评估工具，以全面衡量老年人的社会隔离和社交网络。
2024年4月至6月期间，我们收集了23位生活方式与健康领域专家的见解。基于先前的研究，进行了两轮德尔菲调查，以就关键评估组件达成专家共识。在初始调查中，我们通过关于社会隔离和社交网络评估项目的开放式和封闭式问题收集专家意见。在第一次调查之后，我们对一些不符合内容效度比（CVR）标准的项目进行了修正，然后再进行下一步。我们将第一次调查的结果提交给一个专家小组，从而达成了共识。
第一轮德尔菲调查产生了32个项目，第二轮在调整CVR分数为0.37或更低的项目后产生了30个项目。最终的CVR为0.87，聚合度为0.87，共识水平为0.31，稳定水平为0.12。
本研究成功地使用改良的德尔菲技术开发了一种全面的社会隔离和社交网络评估方法。这30个项目分为三个部分。SISN能够提供一种系统的方法来评估老年人的社会隔离和社交网络。未来应开展研究以检验其信度和效度。
