Breaking the cycle of loneliness? Psychological effects of a friendship enrichment program for older women
Open accessAbstract
The present study examines effects of participation in the friendship enrichment program, an intervention that is designed to stimulate improvement in friendship, self-esteem and subjective well-being, as well as reduction in loneliness among older women. The intervention group was compared to a control group of women who were interested in the program or in improving their friendships. All respondents had been studied at three points in time: at a baseline, prior to the program; three months later, and 9-10 months after baseline. The results indicate that the program was successful in attracting lonely older women who were willing to work on their friendships. Many participants reported improvement in the quantity and quality of their friendships. The program was moderately successful in stimulating improvement in subjective well-being and awareness of the need for an active stance toward achieving goals in social relations, especially in friendship. Loneliness among the participants was reduced, but it also declined in the control group, and both groups continued to experience loneliness. One conclusion is that an effective intervention to help older women reduce their loneliness should be multi-dimensional focusing not only on friendship but also on other personal and situational factors contributing to loneliness.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
A befriending programme for older women reported success in attracting lonely older people but not in improving well-being.
“One of these programmesfocused on older womenreported success in attracting lonely older people but not in improving the well-being of participants (Martina and Stevens 2006).”
From Social isolation, loneliness and health in old age: a scoping review (2017) · cites this paper as Martina and Stevens 2006
Research indicates that indices of social connectedness are modifiable among older adults using social interventions, including group psychotherapy, art/recreational therapy, and peer support.
“Research indicates that indices of social connectedness are modifiable among older adults using social interventions, including group psychotherapy [83], art/recreational therapy [84,85,86,87], and peer support [88].”
From A systematic review of social factors and suicidal behavior in older adulthood (2012) · cites this paper as [88]
In the educational friendship programme study, there was no observed reduction in participants' loneliness, no improvement in assertiveness, and a non-significant trend towards improved self-esteem.
“There was no observed reduction in participants' loneliness, no improvement in assertiveness and a non-significant trend towards improved self-esteem.”
From Interventions targeting social isolation in older people: a systematic review (2011) · cites this paper as [75]
An educational friendship programme for older women reported that, at six months, participants developed more new friendships compared with a control group and demonstrated improved positive and negative affect.
“An evaluation of an educational friendship programme for older women [75] reported that, at six months, participants developed more new friendships in comparison with a control group and demonstrated improved positive and negative affect.”
From Interventions targeting social isolation in older people: a systematic review (2011) · cites this paper as [75]
Seven out of 12 studies (58%) that recruited explicitly targeted participants reported positive effects on outcomes compared with 16 out of 20 (80%) studies with no explicit targeting.
“Seven out of 12 studies (58%) that recruited explicitly targeted participants reported positive effects on outcomes [13,56,67,71,75,78,79], compared with 16/20 (80%) studies with no explicit targeting [52-55,59,60,63,65,66,68-70,73,74,76,81].”
From Interventions targeting social isolation in older people: a systematic review (2011) · cites this paper as [75]
Four studies provided no information about the person providing the intervention, three of which (75%) reported beneficial outcomes.
“Four studies provided no information about the person providing the intervention, three of which (75%) reported beneficial outcomes [63,67,75].”
From Interventions targeting social isolation in older people: a systematic review (2011) · cites this paper as [75]
The citation lists haven’t been fetched yet
References 36 · Cited by 105
- Authors
- Martina, C. M. S., & Stevens, N. L.
- Affiliations
- Radboud University Nijmegen (NL)
- Corresponding author
- Martina, C. M. S.
- Venue
- Aging & Mental Health
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2006-09-01
- Volume
- 10
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 467-475
- ISSN
- 1360-7863 (ISSN-L)
- 1364-6915
- OpenAlex
- W2098713693
- Cited by
- 105
- References
- 36
- Citations by year
- 2026: 14 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 1 · 2012: 7
- FWCI
- 5.93
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- research.vu.nl
- Licence
- other-oa
- Locations
- Aging & Mental Health (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- VU Research Portal (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- Digital Academic REpository of VU University Amsterdam (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) (submittedVersion)
- Radboud Repository (Radboud University) (submittedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- ZonMw
- Radboud Universiteit
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology › Aging and Gerontology Research
- Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Aging, Health, and Disability
- Keywords
- loneliness, older women, friendship quality, self-esteem, subjective well-being, interpersonal relationships, intervention effectiveness, aging
- MeSH terms
- Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Female, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Loneliness, Male, Mental Health Services, Middle Aged, Quality of Life, Self Concept, United States, Friends
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
