TY - JOUR
T1 - Social engagement in older residents of assisted living facilities
AU - Jang, Yuri
AU - Park, Nan Sook
AU - Dominguez, Delilah Dylan
AU - Molinari, Victor
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported, in part, by the University of South Florida Internal Awards Program [grant number RO 26497] (PI − Yuri Jang, PhD).
PY - 2014/7/4
Y1 - 2014/7/4
N2 - Objectives: As a core component of successful aging, social engagement is widely known to play an important role in promoting the health and well-being of older populations. Given the unique nature of assisted living facility (ALF) settings, the present study made a distinction between social engagement within and outside the facility and explored how these two types of social engagement would interact with functional disability in predicting depressive symptoms of older residents in ALFs. We hypothesized that the positive impact of social engagement within the facility would be greater among residents with higher levels of functional disability.Method: Using data from 150 ALF residents in Florida (Mage = 82.8, SD = 9.41), the direct and moderating effects of functional disability and the two types of social engagement on depressive symptoms were assessed.Results: Supporting the hypothesis, the interaction between functional disability and social engagement within the facility was found to be significant. The finding demonstrates the particular importance of social engagement within the facility for those with reduced physical function. For them, the limited but available opportunities for social activities and interpersonal contacts within the facility seem to bring substantial psychological benefits.Conclusion: The findings call attention to efforts to promote social activities and interpersonal contacts within ALFs.
AB - Objectives: As a core component of successful aging, social engagement is widely known to play an important role in promoting the health and well-being of older populations. Given the unique nature of assisted living facility (ALF) settings, the present study made a distinction between social engagement within and outside the facility and explored how these two types of social engagement would interact with functional disability in predicting depressive symptoms of older residents in ALFs. We hypothesized that the positive impact of social engagement within the facility would be greater among residents with higher levels of functional disability.Method: Using data from 150 ALF residents in Florida (Mage = 82.8, SD = 9.41), the direct and moderating effects of functional disability and the two types of social engagement on depressive symptoms were assessed.Results: Supporting the hypothesis, the interaction between functional disability and social engagement within the facility was found to be significant. The finding demonstrates the particular importance of social engagement within the facility for those with reduced physical function. For them, the limited but available opportunities for social activities and interpersonal contacts within the facility seem to bring substantial psychological benefits.Conclusion: The findings call attention to efforts to promote social activities and interpersonal contacts within ALFs.
KW - assisted living facilities
KW - depressive symptoms
KW - functional disability
KW - social engagement
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84901505107&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/13607863.2013.866634
DO - 10.1080/13607863.2013.866634
M3 - Article
C2 - 24345086
AN - SCOPUS:84901505107
SN - 1360-7863
VL - 18
SP - 642
EP - 647
JO - Aging and Mental Health
JF - Aging and Mental Health
IS - 5
ER -