Elder wellness during COVID-19: a student-directed intergenerational virtual discussion group

ABSTRACT

Objective

The COVID-19 pandemic saw increased loneliness and social isolation among older adults as activities and visitor opportunities for residential communities closed down. Health professional students have limited access to geriatric education in coursework and clinical experiences. The Recreation and Education Network for Elder Wellness (RENEW) programme was created by medical students at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, aiming to increase engagement and cross-generational communication with older adults, while also decreasing social isolation and loneliness.

Method

The RENEW programme included Zoom sessions with two Houston retirement communities led by student facilitators enrolled in medical, dental, and undergraduate programmes on a variety of topics of interest for the residents. Pre- and post-surveys were sent to participants and requested non-identifying biographical data and included the Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale.

Results

Facilitators and participants expressed high satisfaction with the programme. Survey results on the Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale showed that participants had an overall decreased loneliness score after participation in RENEW. Student facilitators reported increased exposure to care of older adults and self-reported confidence in communicating with this population.

Conclusions

The RENEW model is a collaborative, bidirectional educational tool for older adults and students with possible applications following the COVID-19 pandemic.

KEY POINTS

What is already known about this topic:

1. Older adults faced increased risks of developing loneliness and social isolation prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

2. Geriatric education in medical and health professional schooling is often limited.

3. As the COVID-19 pandemic began, student groups across the country responded to social isolation among older adults with outreach programmes.

What this topic adds:

1. A programme with weekly cross-generational discussions conducted via Zoom can decrease loneliness among older adults.

2. Programming with older adults provides an added benefit to health profession students by offering opportunities to directly interface with this population.

3. A bidirectional communication tool between older adults and students may have far-reaching impact following the pandemic.

KEYWORDS:

• Elder wellness
• loneliness
• medical student
• COVID-19

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author contributions

RMS and CKW contributed to study concept and design, acquisition of subjects and/or data, analysis and interpretation of data, and preparation of manuscript. SES contributed to study concept and design and preparation of manuscript.

Data availability statement

The authors can provide deidentified data supporting the findings of this study upon reasonable request.