Even though previous literature shows older adults are at risk for developing and maintaining psychological difficulties, evidence-based psychosocial support programs for older adults are scarce. Thus, the Program for psychosocial support for older adults was constructed and implemented in three municipalities in Serbia, and this study is conducted with the aim to test the Program effectiveness. The Program consisted of individual sessions and group workshops, centered around topics of mental health, relationships with others, combating ageism, etc. The Program was held by psychologists specially trained on Program implementation. A quasi-experimental design was used with inclusion criteria being over 55 years of age and not being subject to any form of psychosocial or psychiatric treatment. A total of 32 older adults (Mage=73.09, SDage=9.88, 18.8% males) expressed an interest to join the Program and were assigned to the experimental group, while 31 individuals (Mage = 71.52, SDage = 9.71, 41.9% males) haven’t expressed this interest and thus were assigned to the control group. Each beneficiary from the experimental group participated in 2-9 individual and 2-10 group sessions. Inventories measuring well-being (WHO5; α = .88 - .90), quality of life (MANSA; α = .50 - .85), loneliness (UCLA Loneliness Scale; α = .82 - .88), depression (PHQ9; α = .79 - .85) and anxiety (GAD7; α = .73 - .86) were administered at three time points: before the Program implementation (pre-test), immediately after the implementation (post-test) and one month after (follow-up). The results showed that even after controlling for the scores from the pre-test, there was a significant improvement in the experimental group on post-test measures of well-being (F(1) = 44.875, p .05). The same analysis on the follow-up measures showed that participants from the experimental group displayed lower levels of loneliness one month later (F(1) = 5.64, p = .021, ηp2 = .09), as well as lower depression (F(1) = 6.66, p = .012, ηp2 = .01). These results support the effectiveness of the Program for Psychosocial Support and highlight the need for continuity of services provided.
Dimoski et al. (Mon,) studied this question.