AGES 2.0: Activating and Guiding the Engagement of Seniors through Social Media 1

Background The number and quality of social relationships has important consequences for individual health and well-being. People with broader social networks, and who are active across multiple social groups: -Adjust to change better (Iyer et al., 2009) -Are more resilient (Jones & Jetten, 2011; Cohen et al., 1997) -Live longer (Holt-Lunstad, et al., 2010) Supporting individuals to create and maintain social connections is an important focus for public health (Cacioppo & Hawkley, 2003) 2

Background 3 Controlling for your blood chemistry, age, gender, whether or not you jog, and for all other risk factors, your chance of dying over the course of the next year are cut in half by joining one group, and cut to a quarter by joining two groups... If you smoke and belong to no groups, it’s a toss-up statistically whether you should stop smoking or start joining Robert Putnam

Background 4 Aging can coincide with: -Reduced physical mobility -Difficulties of communication -Increased social isolation Negative effects of actual and felt social isolation on physical, cognitive and mental health amplify with age

Background 5

-Early studies (McConatha et al., 1994, 1995) show positive effects of training older adults in care to use online computing facilities -More recent work (Slegers et al, 2008; White et al., 2002) suggests fewer benefits of computer and internet training for older adults in the community. 6

Background -Increasing Facebook activity reduces loneliness (Deters & Mehl, 2012) -Reported Facebook use at one time predicts reduced subsequent subjective well-being and life satisfaction (Kross et al., 2013) -“Real friends” more beneficial for SWB than “Facebook friends” (Helliwell & Huang, 2013). 7

AGES 2.0: 1.Investigating the effects of social media training on older adults on: -Social participation -Cognitive functioning -Mental health and well-being 2.Comparing effects across older adults in care and those residing in the community 3.Comparing effects across national contexts of UK and Italy 8

Experimental design R 60 D 30 E 1.Recruitment 2.Baseline 3.Training 4.Follow-up 30 C 30 E 30 C 30 E 30 C 30 E 30 C

Training Guided one-on-one training in basic computer use and key social media applications: Forget-me-not book Facebook Skype Training initially intensive (Month 1), then stepped down (Month 2), followed by remote monitoring (Month 3) Although all applications were introduced, training was flexible to match participants needs/ interests/ capacity

Key Measures Health and well-being: Addenbrookes Cognitive Examination Revised (ACE-R) CES Depression (short) Geriatric Anxiety Inventory (short) General Health questionnaire Competence & Autonomy Satisfaction with life Social connections: UCLA loneliness Scale (short) Social network diversity & satisfaction Attitudes about computers Use and perceived utility

UK Data Collection Update 125 potential participants recruited into study Overall target met 92 participants assessed, assigned to condition, and retained: 48 experimental, 44 control 39 residential, 53 domiciliary (22 private, 31 extra care) 57 participants completed Time 2 assessments to date. 12

UK Preliminary findings: Time 1 13 ACE-RMMSECES-DGHQ IdentityAutonomyCompetenceSatisfaction with life Loneliness Network diversity Network satisfaction n = 92 No Time 1 differences between experimental and control groups

UK Preliminary findings: Time 1 14 ACE-RMMSECES-DGHQ IdentityAutonomyCompetenceSatisfaction with life Loneliness Network diversity Network satisfaction n = 92 No Time 1 differences between experimental and control groups

UK Preliminary findings: Time 1 15 ACE-RMMSECES-DGHQ IdentityAutonomyCompetenceSatisfaction with life Loneliness Network diversity Network satisfaction n = 92 No Time 1 differences between experimental and control groups

UK Preliminary findings: Time 1 16 ACE-RMMSECES-DGHQ IdentityAutonomyCompetenceSatisfaction with life Loneliness Network diversity Network satisfaction n = 92 No Time 1 differences between experimental and control groups

Time 2 Time 1 UK Preliminary findings: Time Loneliness Network Diversity Network Satisfaction Cognition (ACE-R) Cognition (ACE-R) Mental Health (CES-D & GHQ) Mental Health (CES-D & GHQ) Life Satisfaction Self (Autonomy & Competence) Self (Autonomy & Competence)

Time 2 Time 1 UK Preliminary findings: Time Loneliness Network Diversity Network Satisfaction Cognition (ACE-R) Cognition (ACE-R) Mental Health (CES-D & GHQ) Mental Health (CES-D & GHQ) Life Satisfaction Self (Autonomy & Competence) Self (Autonomy & Competence)

UK Preliminary findings Time 1 findings reveal sensible and expected relationships between indicators of social isolation (subjective and objective) and impaired cognitive and mental health. Cross time effects confirm causal relationships between indicators of social isolation (esp. loneliness and network diversity) and cognitive and mental health outcomes: 19 Social Engagement Cognitive health Mental health Training ? Computer Use Computer Use

UK Remaining questions What are the social consequences of training? Are there direct or indirect effects of training on cognitive and mental health? Are different subsets of the population responding differently to the training? Is the pattern similar across UK and Italian data? 20

21 “ Keeping up to date with friends and family is just one of the benefits I am experiencing thanks to my newly acquired skills, for which I am very grateful”

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