Evaluation

 

We use tools to evaluate the health and mental health impact of our weekly connections on both isolated residents and active elderly volunteers.

 

 

Tools that The Institute uses include:

  •  Yearly Volunteer Surveys measure satisfaction and personal program impact.  The Institute will compare post-grant results with the most recent findings that 99% of volunteers report an improved sense of mission, connectedness and community.
  • Semi-Annual Client Assessment Scales evaluate the progress of senior residents by establishing a functional baseline and providing follow-up assessments every six months to measure the program’s impact on their mental outlook and desire to thrive. This observational assessment tool is completed by health care professionals at participating long-term care facilities (e.g., nursing staff, para-professionals, activity or chaplain staff).
  • Yearly Site Manager Satisfaction Surveys gauge resident and facility impact according to facility staff;
  • Ongoing verbal communication between program staff and both site staff and volunteers provides further feedback for program assessment; and
  •  Volunteers share feedback at their quarterly support meetings and complete a satisfaction survey after each Good Neighbor Course training session.

 

            The Singer Institute has analyzed initial intervention evaluation results, with some encouraging and unexpected outcomes.  The Client Assessment Scale measures the following areas:

  1. Cognitive Functioning;
  2. Behavior;
  3. Socialization (i.e., social skills/ desire to thrive); and
  4. Activities of Daily Living (i.e., functional/ ability to thrive)
  5. Quality of Life (mood)

 

            Studies have shown that, without significant external stimulation and social support, elderly persons typically decline in their ability to complete Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) and other markers of physical health.[1] Higher cognitive functioning in the elderly in social settings has been linked to social support, and the lack thereof linked to decline in cognition[2].  Other studies have linked loneliness, depression and higher mortality rates among senior citizens[3]. Of the residents engaged in the program for 6 months or more, The Institute expects to see 50% demonstrate an improvement in the first area, "Quality of Life (mood)," with no decrease in these other four areas: Cognitive Functioning; Behavior; Socialization (i.e., social skills/desire to thrive); and Activities of Daily Living (i.e., functional/ ability to thrive).

 

Our initial evaluation results of 2008 found not only an improvement in Quality of Life (mood), as hoped, but also an improvement in Cognitive Functioning that was unpredicted and statistically significant. A majority of assessed residents also remained unchanged or noted slight improvement in the remaining categories of Behavior, Socialization and Activities of Daily Living.  May 2009 evaluation results paralleled this earlier finding, showing that 50% of residents either exhibited no change or improved in all our evaluation categories and showed statistically significant improvement for 7 questions at the individual sub-question level, such as:  “Appears full of energy,” “Is active and involved in interests,” and  “Remembers things that have happened recently.”

 


1] Holman, Ericsson, Andersson & Winblad, Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care, 1993; Shu-Chuan & Yea-Ying, University of Sun Yat Sen, Influence of social support on cognitive function in the elderly, BioMed Central Health Services Research. 2003; 3: 9, as reported by NIH at www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov, published online 2003 May 30. doi: 10.1186/1472-6963-3-9.

[2] (K.Fiori, 2005; Shu-Chuan and Yea-Ying) Fiori, K; University of Michigan Doctoral Thesis, 2005; Shu-Chuan & Yea-Ying, ibid.

[3] Arehart-Treichel, J., Depression plus Loneliness May Hasten Death, Psychiatric News, Vol. 40, No 2, 1/21/05, p.53; from www.psychiatryonline.org Psychiatric News January 21, 2005