Measuring your impact on loneliness in later life
Description: Measuring your impact on loneliness in later life Dr. Kellie Payne Learning and Research Manager at the Campaign to End Loneliness EndLonelinessUK Loneliness Measurement Tools Scales What is loneliness? No agreed definition Unwelcome,
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slide1. Measuring your impact on loneliness in later life
Dr. Kellie Payne
Learning and Research Manager at the Campaign to End Loneliness @EndLonelinessUK<br>
slide2. Loneliness Measurement – Tools & Scales What is loneliness?
No agreed definition
Unwelcome, painful and unpleasant feeling
Both number and depth of relationships
Fluctuating, difficult to measure and identify
Why measure loneliness?
Lack of good quality evidence on ‘interventions’
Negative impact on mental and physical health
Understand how people feel about connections<br>
slide3. Why not social isolation, or wellbeing?
Three distinct concepts
Social isolation = objective measure
Wellbeing = broader measure
What is a scale?
Consistent, numerical measurement of emotion
Show how much of a difference you’ve made
Compare the impact of different types of activities/services Loneliness Measurement – Tools & Scales<br>
slide5. Loneliness is the distressing feeling that people experience when the amount or type of friendships / relationships that they have are less than they would like to have. Definition of loneliness<br>
slide6. The tool contains the following statements:
I am content with my friendships and relationships
I have enough people I feel comfortable asking for help at any time
My relationships are as satisfying as I would want them to be Campaign to End Loneliness Measurement Tool<br>
slide7. Answers are as follows:
Strongly Disagree / Disagree / Neutral / Agree / Strongly Agree / Don’t Know
In order to avoid a ‘response set’ – where people give the same answer to a question almost by rote, it is important to alternate the direction of answers
Asking all three of these questions together produces the most reliable Answers<br>
slide8. The scores for each individual question need to be added together. This gives a possible range of scores from 0 to 12 Scoring<br>
slide9. Campaign to End Loneliness Measurement Tool I am content with my friendships and relationships
Strongly Disagree [4] Disagree [3] Neutral [2] Agree [1] Strongly Agree [0]
I have enough people I feel comfortable asking for help at any time
Strongly Agree [0] Agree [1] Neutral [2] Disagree [3] Strongly Disagree [4]
My relationships are as satisfying as I would want them to be
Strongly Disagree [4] Disagree [3] Neutral [2] Agree [1] Strongly Agree [0]<br>
slide10. Positive language about a tricky issue: written in language which is non-intrusive and unlikely to cause any embarrassment or distress.
Practical: very practical resource for organisations in the field to use in their face-to-face work with older people.
Co-designed: with a number of different people and organisations, to try and ensure it is appropriate for a ranges of contexts.
Length: kept as short as possible and is easy to score.
Validity: has undergone academic tests to ensure it is valid and reliable. Strengths<br>
slide11. Newness: not yet been used extensively by services, so we do not yet know how it picks up changes over time
Only using positive language: The use of only positive worded questions could lead to respondents under-reporting their loneliness
Not a screening tool: strongly advise organisations not to use these questions as a “screening tool” to establish eligibility to their services. It has not been designed for this purpose and may therefore give misleading results. Limitations<br>
slide12. De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale Definition based upon Weiss (1973) theory – emotional and social loneliness
Overall score of 0-6 (two 0-3 subscales)
Strengths
Different types of loneliness
Designing with and for older people
Extensively used and validated
Limitations
Length
Training/support needed for negative Qs<br>
slide13. De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale I experience a general sense of emptiness
Yes [1] More or less [1] No [0]
There are plenty of people I can rely on when I have problems
Yes [0] More or less [1] No [1]
There are many people I can trust completely
Yes [0] More or less [1] No [1]
I miss having people around me
Yes [1] More or less [1] No [0]
There are enough people I feel close to
Yes [0] More or less [1] No [1]
I often feel rejected
Yes [1] More or less [1] No [0]<br>
slide14. De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale Definition based upon Weiss (1973) theory – emotional and social loneliness
Overall score of 0-6 (two 0-3 subscales)
Strengths
Different types of loneliness
Designing with and for older people
Extensively used and validated
Limitations
Length
Training/support needed for negative Qs<br>
slide15. UCLA Loneliness Scale Cognitive discrepancy – “mismatch”
Overall score of 3-9
Strengths
Widely used
Well tested and validated
Compare to national studies/data
Limitations
Originally developed with USA students
‘Response set’
Training/support needed for negative Qs<br>
slide16. UCLA Loneliness Scale How often do you feel that you lack companionship?
Hardly ever [1] Some of the time [2] Often [3]
How often do you feel left out?
Hardly ever [1] Some of the time [2] Often [3]
How often do you feel isolated from others?
Hardly ever [1] Some of the time [2] Often [3]<br>
slide17. Single questions Strengths
Short – each to insert into M&E
Age-friendly – if communicating is difficult
Commonly used in research
Limitations
May not be reliable
May be too blunt
Limitations of time period
Challenges or ignores stigma?<br>
slide18. Single questions How often do you feel lonely?
Hardly ever or never
Some of the time
Often
During the past week, have you felt lonely:
Rarely or none of the time (e.g. less than 1 day)
Some or a little of the time (e.g. 1-2 days)
Occasionally or a moderate amount of time (e.g. 3-4 days)
All of the time (e.g. 5-7 days)<br>
slide20. Next steps…
Read the guidance
Let us know what does and doesn’t work
Share your findings: write us a case study<br>
slide21. THANK YOU!
Please contact me:
kellie@campaigntoendloneliness.org.uk<br>
Dr. Kellie Payne
Learning and Research Manager at the Campaign to End Loneliness @EndLonelinessUK<br>
slide2. Loneliness Measurement – Tools & Scales What is loneliness?
No agreed definition
Unwelcome, painful and unpleasant feeling
Both number and depth of relationships
Fluctuating, difficult to measure and identify
Why measure loneliness?
Lack of good quality evidence on ‘interventions’
Negative impact on mental and physical health
Understand how people feel about connections<br>
slide3. Why not social isolation, or wellbeing?
Three distinct concepts
Social isolation = objective measure
Wellbeing = broader measure
What is a scale?
Consistent, numerical measurement of emotion
Show how much of a difference you’ve made
Compare the impact of different types of activities/services Loneliness Measurement – Tools & Scales<br>
slide5. Loneliness is the distressing feeling that people experience when the amount or type of friendships / relationships that they have are less than they would like to have. Definition of loneliness<br>
slide6. The tool contains the following statements:
I am content with my friendships and relationships
I have enough people I feel comfortable asking for help at any time
My relationships are as satisfying as I would want them to be Campaign to End Loneliness Measurement Tool<br>
slide7. Answers are as follows:
Strongly Disagree / Disagree / Neutral / Agree / Strongly Agree / Don’t Know
In order to avoid a ‘response set’ – where people give the same answer to a question almost by rote, it is important to alternate the direction of answers
Asking all three of these questions together produces the most reliable Answers<br>
slide8. The scores for each individual question need to be added together. This gives a possible range of scores from 0 to 12 Scoring<br>
slide9. Campaign to End Loneliness Measurement Tool I am content with my friendships and relationships
Strongly Disagree [4] Disagree [3] Neutral [2] Agree [1] Strongly Agree [0]
I have enough people I feel comfortable asking for help at any time
Strongly Agree [0] Agree [1] Neutral [2] Disagree [3] Strongly Disagree [4]
My relationships are as satisfying as I would want them to be
Strongly Disagree [4] Disagree [3] Neutral [2] Agree [1] Strongly Agree [0]<br>
slide10. Positive language about a tricky issue: written in language which is non-intrusive and unlikely to cause any embarrassment or distress.
Practical: very practical resource for organisations in the field to use in their face-to-face work with older people.
Co-designed: with a number of different people and organisations, to try and ensure it is appropriate for a ranges of contexts.
Length: kept as short as possible and is easy to score.
Validity: has undergone academic tests to ensure it is valid and reliable. Strengths<br>
slide11. Newness: not yet been used extensively by services, so we do not yet know how it picks up changes over time
Only using positive language: The use of only positive worded questions could lead to respondents under-reporting their loneliness
Not a screening tool: strongly advise organisations not to use these questions as a “screening tool” to establish eligibility to their services. It has not been designed for this purpose and may therefore give misleading results. Limitations<br>
slide12. De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale Definition based upon Weiss (1973) theory – emotional and social loneliness
Overall score of 0-6 (two 0-3 subscales)
Strengths
Different types of loneliness
Designing with and for older people
Extensively used and validated
Limitations
Length
Training/support needed for negative Qs<br>
slide13. De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale I experience a general sense of emptiness
Yes [1] More or less [1] No [0]
There are plenty of people I can rely on when I have problems
Yes [0] More or less [1] No [1]
There are many people I can trust completely
Yes [0] More or less [1] No [1]
I miss having people around me
Yes [1] More or less [1] No [0]
There are enough people I feel close to
Yes [0] More or less [1] No [1]
I often feel rejected
Yes [1] More or less [1] No [0]<br>
slide14. De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale Definition based upon Weiss (1973) theory – emotional and social loneliness
Overall score of 0-6 (two 0-3 subscales)
Strengths
Different types of loneliness
Designing with and for older people
Extensively used and validated
Limitations
Length
Training/support needed for negative Qs<br>
slide15. UCLA Loneliness Scale Cognitive discrepancy – “mismatch”
Overall score of 3-9
Strengths
Widely used
Well tested and validated
Compare to national studies/data
Limitations
Originally developed with USA students
‘Response set’
Training/support needed for negative Qs<br>
slide16. UCLA Loneliness Scale How often do you feel that you lack companionship?
Hardly ever [1] Some of the time [2] Often [3]
How often do you feel left out?
Hardly ever [1] Some of the time [2] Often [3]
How often do you feel isolated from others?
Hardly ever [1] Some of the time [2] Often [3]<br>
slide17. Single questions Strengths
Short – each to insert into M&E
Age-friendly – if communicating is difficult
Commonly used in research
Limitations
May not be reliable
May be too blunt
Limitations of time period
Challenges or ignores stigma?<br>
slide18. Single questions How often do you feel lonely?
Hardly ever or never
Some of the time
Often
During the past week, have you felt lonely:
Rarely or none of the time (e.g. less than 1 day)
Some or a little of the time (e.g. 1-2 days)
Occasionally or a moderate amount of time (e.g. 3-4 days)
All of the time (e.g. 5-7 days)<br>
slide20. Next steps…
Read the guidance
Let us know what does and doesn’t work
Share your findings: write us a case study<br>
slide21. THANK YOU!
Please contact me:
kellie@campaigntoendloneliness.org.uk<br>