Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess possible effects on five-year survival rates of a social rehabilitation programme for elderly institutionalized people. A total of 50 elderly people were randomly selected and allocated to either a control group or a social activation intervention group. A number of physiological parameters were assessed as was the initial health status. Five-year mortality rates showed no differences between the control (10 dead out of the original 27) and the intervention group (8/23). The former, however, tended to have a higher relocation rate to geriatric hospitals, 7/27 and 4/23 respectively. Survivors, in general, had lower systolic blood pressure (145 vs 152 mmHg) and lower serum cholesterol (6.0 vs 6.4 mmol/I). The results indicate a need to reassess the assumed beneficial effects on survival of social activation programmes initiated in late life. The study indicates that risk factors for early death from cardiovascular diseases in a younger population (systolic blood pressure and serum cholesterol) also hold true for older institutionalized subjects, with the possible exception for high density lipoprotein- cholesterol (HDL), which showed an inverse relationship to survival. Larger scaled studies are warranted.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Maxwell RJ Doomed status: observations on the segregation of impaired old people. Psychiat Quart 1979; 51: 3-14.

Gillick MR , Serrell NA , Gillick LS Adverse consequences of hospitalization in the elderly. Soc Sci Med 1982; 16: 1033-38.

Barns EK , Sack A. , Shore H. Guideline to treatment approaches. Modalities and methods for use with the aged. Gerontologist 1973; 13: 513-72.

Arnetz BB , Eyre M. , Theorell T. Social activation of the elderly. A social experiment. Soc Sci Med 1982; 16: 1685-90.

Kuypers JA , Bengtson VL Social breakdown and competence. A model of normal ageing. Human Development 1973; 16: 181-201.

Seligman Mep. Helplessness. On depression, development, and death. San Francisco: WH Freeman and Company, 1975.

Quattrochi-Tubin S. , Jason JA Enhancing social interactions and activity among the elderly through stimulus control. JAppl Behav Anal 1980; 13: 159-63.

Blackman DK , Howe M. , Pinkston EM Increasing participation in social interaction of the institutionalized elderly . Gerontologist 1975; 15: 404-406.

Arnetz BB. Interaction of biomedical and psychosocial factors in research on ageing: a European perspective. In: Eisdorfer C , Powell Lawton M , Maddox GL eds. Annual review of gerontology and geriatrics, 1985; 5: 56-94. New York: Springer Publishing Company.

10.

Langer EJ , Rodin J. The effects of choice and enhanced personal responsibility for the aged: a field experiment in an institutional setting. J Pers Soc Psychol 1976; 34: 191-98.

11.

Arnetz BB , Theorell T. Psychological, sociological and health behaviour aspects of a long term activation programme for institutionalized elderly people. Soc Sci Med 1983; 17: 449-56.

12.

Arnetz BB , Theorell T. , Levi L. , Kallner A. , Eneroth P. An experimental study of social isolation of elderly people. psychoendocrine and metabolic effects. Psychosomatic Medicine 1983; 45: 395-406.

13.

Colditz GA , Branch LG , Lipnick RJ et al. Moderate alcohol and decreased cardiovascular mortality in an elderly cohort. Amer Heart J 1985; 109: 886-89.

14.

Muller HF , Grad B. , Engelsmann F. Biological and psychological predictors of survival in a psychogeriatric population . J Gerontol 1975; 30: 47-52.

15.

Arnetz BB Endocrine reactions during standardized surgical stress: the effects of age and methods of anaesthesia. Age Ageing 1985 ; 14: 96-101.

Longterm effects of a social rehabilitation programme for elderly people: physiological predictors and mortality data

Abstract

Get full access to this article

References