Intervention Against Loneliness in a Group of Elderly Women: A Process Evaluation

Abstract

This article describes a method (the CCC design) for undertaking social work with the elderly. The presenting symptom is the experience of loneliness. Also examined is how far the sample was representative of elderly people who had shown interest in institutional living and among whom the experience of loneliness could be expected, and also whether the intervention efforts were undertaken as specified. The results indicate that when subjects are randomly assigned to a treatment they have not sought, the participants, as compared to nonparticipants, seem to be somewhat higher in socioeconomic status and some of its correlates, but lower in self-esteem. On the whole the proposed method seems easy enough to execute and can accordingly be applied to other populations.