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Abstract
Studies indicate that living alone, or living in anonymous housing complexes-such as Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities (NORCs)-can produce feelings of isolation and loneliness, which can negatively affect psychological well-being and physical health. Little is known about how NORCs, occupied by relatively poor older minorities may provide a context for low-cost interventions directed at enhancing well-being and therefore health. Given that traditional health education interventions have been ineffective among minority seniors, the goal of this study is to introduce a low-cost, on-site psycho-educational health intervention program to older NORC residents, that includes: (1) a formal health education component to encourage good health (health behavior), and (2) an informal recreational component focusing on peoples' psychological well-being (social facilitation). The research question is: “Would social facilitation improve psychological well-being and health?”
Forty-five aging Black residents of two NORCs were assigned to either an intervention condition for 8-weeks (group 1, n = 26) or a control condition (group 2, n = 19). Group 1 was expected to show improvement in psychological well-being and health, and such improvements were expected to be retained well after the sessions. Data were gathered from both groups, at baseline, post intervention, and 2 months following the intervention. Results indicate that there was a significant time by treatment effect for well-being. There was no significant time by treatment effect, but there was a significant treatment effect for health behaviors. This shows that short-term psycho-educational intervention can positively affect the quality of life of older minority residents of NORCs.