Integrating Lonely Elderly Patients in Workshops in a Cartoon Museum: An Efficacy Study

NCT ID: NCT02047435

Last Updated: 2014-05-23

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: UNKNOWN
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 50 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2014-02-28

Brief Summary

Social relationships are important to people and it affects their quality of life, morbidity and mortality.

This is a randomised controlled trial studying the effect of including older people with impaired social relationships and a perception of loneliness at workshops, at The Storm P. Museum - a museum about the well known Danish cartoonist Robert Storm Petersen.

The hypothesis is, that by including older lonely people with a impaired social participation in these workshops, they will increase the participants health related quality of life. The investigators also hypothesis, that the intervention will improve the participants perception of loneliness, social participation and physical function.

The intervention consist of a series of workshops at the Storm P. Museum. At these workshops the participants will create memory material for nursing home residents with dementia. The museum staff will facilitate a process of storytelling, using events, significant stories and artistic works by Storm P. and encourage the participants, by means of the "narrative interview" method to share similar stories from their life.

Detailed Description

Background:

Social relations are important to people and it affects their quality of life, morbidity and mortality. This is especially true among older people and social relations are also important for the management of chronic diseases. Those with strong social relations are less sick, and recover faster if they become sick. There is also a connection between social relations and death, as people with many social relations are more likely to live longer than people with few social relations. In Denmark it is assumed that poor social relationships causes between 1000-1500 deaths per year, equivalent to about 2% of all deaths.

This is a randomised controlled trial studying the effect of including older people with poor social relationships and a perception of loneliness at workshops, at The Storm P. Museum - a museum about the well known Danish cartoonist Robert Storm Petersen.

Hypothesis:

The hypothesis is, that by including older lonely people with a poor social participation in these workshops, they will increase the participants health related quality of life. The investigators also hypothesis, that the intervention will improve the participants perception of loneliness, social participation and physical function as well as mortality and nursing home placement at long term.

The intervention:

Both the intervention and the comparison group will be invited to an event at the Storm P. Museum.

This event consist of

• A guided tour of the collection with a presentation on Storm P. 's life and artistic work.
• A representative from the municipal DaneAge Association will subsequently tell about the municipality's activities for the elderly.
• The museum will serve a refreshment and offer participants a season pass to the museum.

In addition the intervention group will be invited to participate in a series of workshops at the Storm P. Museum with scheduled meetings twice a month. In collaboration with the museum, participants at these workshops will create memory material for nursing home residents with dementia.

The workshop will use narrative as a method to give participants a mutual relationship that is perceived as meaningful and rewarding for each participant. Storytelling is central in creating a cognitive, meaningful and holistic life. In our dialogues we create a mutual understanding. Stories are central to people and is used in making sense in transitions and essential decisions in your life.

The museum facilitates the process of storytelling using events, significant stories and artistic works by Storm P., and encourage the participants, via the method known as "narrative interview", to share similar stories from their life. This will not only benefit the participants, but also act as crucial empirical data collected via journal keeping for this project.

The intervention is planned to last for up to 12 months and outcome measures are collected at baseline, 9 months and at 18 months.

Conditions

Quality of Life; Social Isolation; Loneliness

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: TREATMENT
• Blinding Strategy: SINGLE

Study Groups

Information, event and workshops at a cartoon museum

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Information, event and workshops at a cartoon museum

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

1. An event at the Storm P. Museum consisting of:

• A guided tour at the museum
• A representative from the municipal DaneAge Association will tell about the municipality's activities for the elderly.
• The museum serves a refreshment and offer participants a season pass to the museum.

And

2. Workshops at The Storm P. museum, for up to 12 months with approximately two workshops a months. In collaboration with the museum the participants create memory material for nursing home resident with dementia. The workshop will use narrative as a method to give participants a mutual relationship that is perceived as meaningful and rewarding for each participant and in the dialogues a mutual understanding is created. The museum staff facilitates the process of storytelling using events, significant stories and artistic works by Storm P., to encourage the participants, via the method known as "narrative interview", to share similar stories from their life.

Information and event at a cartoon museum

Group Type: ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Information and event at a cartoon museum

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

1. An event at the Storm P. Museum consisting of:

• A guided tour at the museum
• A representative from the municipal DaneAge Association will tell about the municipality's activities for the elderly.
• The museum serves a refreshment and offer participants a season pass to the museum.

Interventions

Information, event and workshops at a cartoon museum

1. An event at the Storm P. Museum consisting of:

• A guided tour at the museum
• A representative from the municipal DaneAge Association will tell about the municipality's activities for the elderly.
• The museum serves a refreshment and offer participants a season pass to the museum.

And

2. Workshops at The Storm P. museum, for up to 12 months with approximately two workshops a months. In collaboration with the museum the participants create memory material for nursing home resident with dementia. The workshop will use narrative as a method to give participants a mutual relationship that is perceived as meaningful and rewarding for each participant and in the dialogues a mutual understanding is created. The museum staff facilitates the process of storytelling using events, significant stories and artistic works by Storm P., to encourage the participants, via the method known as "narrative interview", to share similar stories from their life.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Information and event at a cartoon museum

1. An event at the Storm P. Museum consisting of:

• A guided tour at the museum
• A representative from the municipal DaneAge Association will tell about the municipality's activities for the elderly.
• The museum serves a refreshment and offer participants a season pass to the museum.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

Age: 65 years or older, Consultation at the general practice during the project period, Impaired social participation and often/occasionally perceive loneliness, Provided written informed consent

Exclusion Criteria

Do not talk or understand Danish, Terminal ill, Physically not able to participate, Low score on cognitive test (OMC test)

• Minimum Eligible Age: 65 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

The Storm P. Museum

UNKNOWN

Sponsor Role: collaborator

University College Absalon

OTHER

Sponsor Role: collaborator

EGV Foundation

OTHER

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Danish Agency for Culture

UNKNOWN

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Research Unit Of General Practice, Copenhagen

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Frans Boch Waldorff

PhD

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Frans B Waldorff, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Research Unit Of General Practice, Copenhagen

Tina D Due, PhD student

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Research Unit Of General Practice, Copenhagen

Locations

Research Unit of General Practice Copenhagen

Copenhagen, , Denmark

Site Status: RECRUITING

Countries

Denmark

Central Contacts

Frans B Waldorff, PhD

Role: CONTACT

fransw@sund.ku.dk

+ 45 35327129

Tina D Due, PhD student

Role: CONTACT

tina.due@sund.ku.dk

+ 45 35327167

Other Identifiers

Storm-P-2014

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id