Integrating Lonely Elderly Patients in Workshops in a Cartoon Museum: An Efficacy Study

Summary

Social relationships are important to people and it affects their quality of life, morbidity and mortality.

This is a randomised controlled trial studying the effect of including older people with impaired social relationships and a perception of loneliness at workshops, at The Storm P. Museum - a museum about the well known Danish cartoonist Robert Storm Petersen.

The hypothesis is, that by including older lonely people with a impaired social participation in these workshops, they will increase the participants health related quality of life. The investigators also hypothesis, that the intervention will improve the participants perception of loneliness, social participation and physical function.

The intervention consist of a series of workshops at the Storm P. Museum. At these workshops the participants will create memory material for nursing home residents with dementia. The museum staff will facilitate a process of storytelling, using events, significant stories and artistic works by Storm P. and encourage the participants, by means of the "narrative interview" method to share similar stories from their life.

Conditions

• Quality of Life
• Social Isolation
• Loneliness

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Information, event and workshops at a cartoon museum

1. An event at the Storm P. Museum consisting of: * A guided tour at the museum * A representative from the municipal DaneAge Association will tell about the municipality's activities for the elderly. * The museum serves a refreshment and offer participants a season pass to the museum. And 2. Workshops at The Storm P. museum, for up to 12 months with approximately two workshops a months. In collaboration with the museum the participants create memory material for nursing home resident with dementia. The workshop will use narrative as a method to give participants a mutual relationship that is perceived as meaningful and rewarding for each participant and in the dialogues a mutual understanding is created. The museum staff facilitates the process of storytelling using events, significant stories and artistic works by Storm P., to encourage the participants, via the method known as "narrative interview", to share similar stories from their life.

BEHAVIORAL

Information and event at a cartoon museum

1\. An event at the Storm P. Museum consisting of: * A guided tour at the museum * A representative from the municipal DaneAge Association will tell about the municipality's activities for the elderly. * The museum serves a refreshment and offer participants a season pass to the museum.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• The Storm P. Museum

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• University College Absalon

  collaborator OTHER

• EGV Foundation

  collaborator OTHER

• Danish Agency for Culture

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Research Unit Of General Practice, Copenhagen

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Frans B Waldorff, PhD · Research Unit Of General Practice, Copenhagen

• Tina D Due, PhD student · Research Unit Of General Practice, Copenhagen

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

65 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2014-02-28

Primary Completion

2015-08-31

Countries

• Denmark

Study Locations