Life Satisfaction among Older Adults in Rural and Urban Mongolia: A Cross-Sectional Survey Study.

Introduction: Life satisfaction is a strong indicator of well-being for older adults. In this study, we aimed to assess the level and correlates of life satisfaction among older adults in urban and rural Mongolia. Methods: We recruited 304 community-dwelling older adults in urban and rural regions of Mongolia. We compared levels of life satisfaction for the two groups, and then used hierarchical regression to examine the association of sociodemographic, health, psychosocial factors, and urban/rural status with life satisfaction. Results: Older adults in urban areas reported higher levels of life satisfaction than their rural counterparts. In the final step of the hierarchical regression model, more grandchildren in the household, better self-rated health, and reporting more positive than negative affect were associated with better life satisfaction at p < 0.05 as were engaging in paid work and lower levels of loneliness at p < 0.10. Net the effects of all other variables in the analysis, older adults in rural areas reported lower levels of life satisfaction. Conclusion: Our findings indicate that living in rural areas of Mongolia leads to lower levels of life satisfaction. We identify potential points to intervene through policies, programs, and practices that target the strengths and needs of older adults in rural areas by addressing inequities in socioeconomics, health, mental health, and opportunities for social integration.

Sociodemographic predictors of flourishing among older adults in rural and urban Mongolia.

Flourishing is an eudaimonic dimension of psychological well-being associated with positive social and health outcomes. Determining correlates of health and well-being is critical for the development of evidence-based best practices, policies, and action plans that target older adults, especially in low- and middle-income countries where research on ageing, health and well-being is still scarce. The study aimed to determine the level of flourishing among older adults in Mongolia and to explore demographic and social factors that contribute to their flourishing in urban and rural areas of Mongolia. We used proportional quota sampling to select a non-probability sample of 304 community-dwelling older adults that reflected the national distribution of older age groups and rural/urban residency. We adapted and administered a widely used standardized questionnaire on flourishing and used multiple regression to establish correlates of flourishing. Study participants reported "very high" levels of flourishing; differences in median scores 53 for urban and 50 for rural older adults were significant. Sex ([Formula: see text], [Formula: see text]), level of education([Formula: see text], [Formula: see text]) and receive help with ADLs ([Formula: see text], [Formula: see text]) were associated with flourishing in rural areas, as were self-rated health ([Formula: see text], [Formula: see text]), number of social activities ([Formula: see text], [Formula: see text]),and friends network ([Formula: see text], [Formula: see text]) in urban areas. Despite facing many challenges to well-being, older adults in Mongolia reported high levels of flourishing. Those in urban areas had higher scores than those in rural areas and predictors of flourishing differed for these groups.

A Systematic Review on Technology-Supported Interventions to Improve Old-Age Social Wellbeing: Loneliness, Social Isolation, and Connectedness.

Background: This review studies technology-supported interventions to help older adults, living in situations of reduced mobility, overcome loneliness, and social isolation. The focus is on long-distance interactions, investigating the (i) challenges addressed and strategies applied; (ii) technology used in interventions; and (iii) social interactions enabled. Methods: We conducted a search on Elsevier's Scopus database for related work published until January 2020, focusing on (i) intervention studies supported mainly by technology-mediated communication, (ii) aiming at supported virtual social interactions between people, and (iii) evaluating the impact of loneliness or social isolation. Results: Of the 1178 papers screened, 25 met the inclusion criteria. Computer and Internet training was the dominant strategy, allowing access to communication technologies, while in recent years, we see more studies aiming to provide simple, easy-to-use technology. The technology used was mostly off-the-shelf, with fewer solutions tailored to older adults. Social interactions targeted mainly friends and family, and most interventions focused on more than one group of people. Discussion. All interventions reported positive results, suggesting feasibility. However, more research is needed on the topic (especially randomized controlled trials), as evidenced by the low number of interventions found. We recommend more rigorous methods, addressing human factors and reporting technology usage in future research.

Effects of Sharing Old Pictures With Grandchildren on Intergenerational Relationships: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND: Intergenerational relationships are beneficial for both grandparents and grandchildren. A positive grandparent-grandchild relationship can improve the psychological well-being of older adults and be a source of social support, family history, and identity development. Maintaining meaningful interactions can be, however, a challenging endeavor, especially as life events lead to relocating geographically. Grandparents and grandchildren can have different preferences in terms of communication mediums and different assumptions about the real conversational needs of the other. OBJECTIVE: In this study, we will investigate the feasibility and effect of sharing memories of older adults with their grandchildren in social media. This intervention focuses on bringing snippets of the lives of the grandparents into the grandchildren's social media feed and analyzing the potential effect on relational quality, relational investment, and conversational resources from the perspective of the grandchildren. METHODS: A randomized controlled trial will be used to measure the effectiveness of sharing family memories through social media on intergenerational relationships from the perspective of the grandchildren. The study will be implemented in Mongolia among 60 grandparent-grandchild pairs who will be assigned to either a control or intervention group. Pictures and stories will be collected during reminiscence sessions between the researchers and the grandparents before the intervention. During an intervention period of 2 months, grandchildren in the intervention group will receive pictures and stories of their grandparents on their social media account. Pre- and postintervention questionnaires will measure relationship quality, relationship investment, and conversational resources and will be used to assess the effectiveness of the intervention. RESULTS: We conducted a pretest pilot from January to April 2018 among 6 pairs of participants (6 grandparents and 6 grandchildren). The validation of the protocol was focused on the process, instruments, and technological setup. We continued the study after the validation, and 59 pairs of participants (59 grandparents and 59 grandchildren) have been recruited. The data collection was completed in November 2019. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study will contribute to strategies to stimulate social interactions in intergenerational pairs. A validation of the study process is also presented to provide further operational recommendations. The lessons learned during the validation of the protocol are discussed with recommendations and implications for the recruitment, reminiscence sessions, technological setup, and administration of instruments. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/16315.

Crowdsourced dataset to study the generation and impact of text highlighting in classification tasks.

OBJECTIVES: Text classification is a recurrent goal in machine learning projects and a typical task in crowdsourcing platforms. Hybrid approaches, leveraging crowdsourcing and machine learning, work better than either in isolation and help to reduce crowdsourcing costs. One way to mix crowd and machine efforts is to have algorithms highlight passages from texts and feed these to the crowd for classification. In this paper, we present a dataset to study text highlighting generation and its impact on document classification. DATA DESCRIPTION: The dataset was created through two series of experiments where we first asked workers to (i) classify documents according to a relevance question and to highlight parts of the text that supported their decision, and on a second phase, (ii) to assess document relevance but supported by text highlighting of varying quality (six human-generated and six machine-generated highlighting conditions). The dataset features documents from two application domains: systematic literature reviews and product reviews, three document sizes, and three relevance questions of different levels of difficulty. We expect this dataset of 27,711 individual judgments from 1851 workers to benefit not only this specific problem domain, but the larger class of classification problems where crowdsourced datasets with individual judgments are scarce.

Reliability of crowdsourcing as a method for collecting emotions labels on pictures.

OBJECTIVE: In this paper we study if and under what conditions crowdsourcing can be used as a reliable method for collecting high-quality emotion labels on pictures. To this end, we run a set of crowdsourcing experiments on the widely used IAPS dataset, using the Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM) emotion collection instrument, in order to rate pictures on valence, arousal and dominance, and explore the consistency of crowdsourced results across multiple runs (reliability) and the level of agreement with the gold labels (quality). In doing so, we explored the impact of targeting populations of different level of reputation (and cost) and collecting varying numbers of ratings per picture. RESULTS: The results tell us that crowdsourcing can be a reliable method, reaching excellent levels of reliability and agreement with only 3 ratings per picture for valence and 8 per arousal, with only marginal difference between target populations. Results for dominance were very poor, echoing previous studies on the data collection instrument used. We also observed that specific types of content generate diverging opinions in participants (leading to higher variability or multimodal distributions), which remain consistent across pictures of the same theme. These can inform the data collection and exploitation of crowdsourced emotion datasets.

Psychometric evaluation of the Russian version of the flourishing scale in a sample of older adults living in Siberia.

BACKGROUND: The development of measures of psychological functioning has received less attention in Russia compared to other countries. Moreover, despite the growing interest in the psychological well-being of older adults, there is a lack of research on this segment of the population in Siberia. Therefore, in this study we aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Russian version of the Flourishing Scale (FS) and to measure psychological functioning in a sample of older adults living in Siberia. METHODS: The FS was translated and adapted to Russian language and culture using the back-translation procedure. The Russian version was administered to 851 older adults (aged from 65 to 93 years, mean = 75.3; female = 510). A principal axis factor analysis (PFA) and a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were used to assess the structural validity. Cronbach's alpha coefficients (internal consistency) and item-total correlations were also analysed. To test the convergent validity, the FS was compared with other scales assessing mental well-being. RESULTS: The PFA and the CFA showed that the FS had good psychometric properties. A one-factor structure was a good model of fit, even if some items had a low loading (ranging between 0.39 and 0.80). The Cronbach's alpha value was 0.82 and the Cronbach's alpha values if an item were deleted ranged from 0.78 to 0.81. The item-total correlation coefficients ranged from 0.54 to 0.76. The FS also showed good convergent and divergent validity with other scales (correlation coefficients ranging from 0.39 to 0.54). The mean flourishing score (40.9) reported by the older adults in our sample is lower than that reported in previous studies. CONCLUSIONS: The Russian version of the FS seems to have good psychometric properties and to be a valid and reliable instrument to evaluate flourishing among Russian older adults. This study provides the first evaluation of an instrument that Russian researchers and policymakers can use to better understand the determinants of successful ageing in this society. Future studies should further assess the validity and reliability of the FS and should generalize these results to different groups (e.g., adolescent or workers).

Exploring predictors of life satisfaction and happiness among Siberian older adults living in Tomsk Region.

Despite the growing interest in studying factors affecting subjective well-being of older adults, little research has been conducted on vast territory of Siberia (Russia) with large population. To address this lack of evidence, we explored the relationship between subjective well-being and social aspects (social and emotional support, social network, and social activities), living conditions (standards of living and residence area), self-reported health, and demographic characteristics in older adults living in Tomsk Region, Siberia. Subjective well-being was measured by life satisfaction and happiness (each measured with one 11-point question). Sample included 489 community-dwelling respondents, aged 65 or older. We found that mean life satisfaction and happiness reported by our respondents were lower than those of European countries. Higher quality of social interaction, better standards of living, and being satisfied with own health were associated with higher life satisfaction and happiness. This study provides original data on a region barely investigated and suggests that Siberian older adults receive strong benefits from social support and from social network and that similar factors are related to subjective well-being both in Siberian and Eastern European older adults. Future studies should further explore the relationship between different kinds of social support (e.g., psychological vs. material support) and subjective well-being in different Siberian ethnic groups or regions.

Feasibility of Virtual Tablet-Based Group Exercise Among Older Adults in Siberia: Findings From Two Pilot Trials.

BACKGROUND: Regular physical activity has a positive effect on physical health, well-being, and life satisfaction of older adults. However, engaging in regular physical activity can be challenging for the elderly population because of reduced mobility, low motivation, or lack of the proper infrastructures in their communities. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this paper was to study the feasibility of home-based online group training-under different group cohesion settings-and its effects on adherence and well-being among Russian older adults. We focused particularly on the technology usability and usage and on the adherence to the training (in light of premeasures of social support, enjoyment of physical activity, and leg muscle strength). As a secondary objective, we also explored the effects of the technology-supported intervention on subjective well-being and loneliness. METHODS: Two pilot trials were carried out exploring two different group cohesion settings (weak cohesion and strong cohesion) in the period from 2015 to 2016 in Tomsk, Russian Federation. A total of 44 older adults (59-83 years) participated in the two pilots and followed a strength and balance training program (Otago) for 8 weeks with the help of a tablet-based virtual gym app. Participants in each pilot were assigned to an interaction condition, representing the online group exercising, and an individual condition, representing a home-based individual training. Both conditions featured persuasion strategies but differed in the ability to socialize and train together. RESULTS: Both interaction and individual groups reported a high usability of the technology. Trainees showed a high level of technology acceptance and, particularly, a high score in intention to future use (4.2-5.0 on a 5-point Likert scale). Private texting (short service message [SMS]) was used more than public texting, and the strong cohesion condition resulted in more messages per user. Joint participations to training sessions (copresence) were higher for the social group with higher cohesion. The overall adherence to the training was 74% (SD 27%). Higher levels of social support at baseline were associated with higher adherence in the low cohesion condition (F1,18=5.23, P=.03), whereas in the high cohesion, such association was not found. Overall improvement in the satisfaction with life score was observed between pre and post measures (F1,31=5.85, P=.02), but no decrease in loneliness. CONCLUSIONS: Online group exercising was proven feasible among healthy independently living older adults in Russia. The pilots suggest that a physical training performed in a virtual environment positively affect the life satisfaction of the trainees, but it does not provide support for a decrease in loneliness. High cohesion groups are preferable for group exercising, especially to mitigate effects of low social support on adherence. Further research in motivating group interactions in training settings is needed.

Effects of online group exercises for older adults on physical, psychological and social wellbeing: a randomized pilot trial.

BACKGROUND: Intervention programs to promote physical activity in older adults, either in group or home settings, have shown equivalent health outcomes but different results when considering adherence. Group-based interventions seem to achieve higher participation in the long-term. However, there are many factors that can make of group exercises a challenging setting for older adults. A major one, due to the heterogeneity of this particular population, is the difference in the level of skills. In this paper we report on the physical, psychological and social wellbeing outcomes of a technology-based intervention that enable online group exercises in older adults with different levels of skills. METHODS: A total of 37 older adults between 65 and 87 years old followed a personalized exercise program based on the OTAGO program for fall prevention, for a period of eight weeks. Participants could join online group exercises using a tablet-based application. Participants were assigned either to the Control group, representing the traditional individual home-based training program, or the Social group, representing the online group exercising. Pre- and post- measurements were taken to analyze the physical, psychological and social wellbeing outcomes. RESULTS: After the eight-weeks training program there were improvements in both the Social and Control groups in terms of physical outcomes, given the high level of adherence of both groups. Considering the baseline measures, however, the results suggest that while in the Control group fitter individuals tended to adhere more to the training, this was not the case for the Social group, where the initial level had no effect on adherence. For psychological outcomes there were improvements on both groups, regardless of the application used. There was no significant difference between groups in social wellbeing outcomes, both groups seeing a decrease in loneliness despite the presence of social features in the Social group. However, online social interactions have shown to be correlated to the decrease in loneliness in the Social group. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that technology-supported online group-exercising which conceals individual differences in physical skills is effective in motivating and enabling individuals who are less fit to train as much as fitter individuals. This not only indicates the feasibility of training together despite differences in physical skills but also suggests that online exercise might reduce the effect of skills on adherence in a social context. However, results from this pilot are limited to a small sample size and therefore are not conclusive. Longer term interventions with more participants are instead recommended to assess impacts on wellbeing and behavior change.

Tablet-based strength-balance training to motivate and improve adherence to exercise in independently living older people: part 2 of a phase II preclinical exploratory trial.

BACKGROUND: Home-based exercise programs can improve physical functioning and health status of elderly people. Successful implementation of exercise interventions for older people presents major challenges and supporting elderly people properly while doing their home-based exercises is essential for training success. We developed a tablet-based system-ActiveLifestyle-that offers older adults a home-based strength-balance training program with incorporated motivation strategies and support features. OBJECTIVE: The goal was to compare 3 different home-based training programs with respect to their effect on measures of gait quality and physical performance through planned comparisons between (1) tablet-based and brochure-based interventions, (2) individual and social motivation strategies, and (3) active and inactive participants. METHODS: A total of 44 autonomous-living elderly people (mean 75, SD 6 years) were assigned to 3 training groups: social (tablet guided, n=14), individual (tablet guided, n=13), and brochure (brochure guided, n=17). All groups joined a 12-week progressive home-based strength-balance training program. Outcome measures were gait performance under single and dual task conditions, dual task costs of walking, falls efficacy, and physical performance as measured by the Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB). Furthermore, active (≥75% program compliance) and inactive (<75% program compliance) individuals were compared based on their characteristics and outcome measures. RESULTS: The tablet groups showed significant improvements in single and dual task walking, whereas there were no significant changes observable in the brochure group. Between-groups comparisons revealed significant differences for gait velocity (U=138.5; P=.03, r=.33) and cadence (U=138.5, P=.03 r=.34) during dual task walking at preferred speed in favor of the tablet groups. The brochure group had more inactive participants, but this did not reach statistical significance (U=167, P=.06, r=.29). The active participants outperformed the inactive participants in single and dual task walking, dual task costs of walking, and SPPB scores. Significant between-groups differences were seen between the tablet groups and the brochure group, in favor of the tablet groups. CONCLUSIONS: A tablet-based strength-balance training program that allows monitoring and assisting autonomous-living older adults while training at home was more effective in improving gait and physical performance when compared to a brochure-based program. Social or individual motivation strategies were equally effective. The most prominent differences were observed between active and inactive participants. These findings suggest that in older adults a tablet-based intervention enhances training compliance; hence, it is an effective way to improve gait.

Tablet-based strength-balance training to motivate and improve adherence to exercise in independently living older people: a phase II preclinical exploratory trial.

BACKGROUND: Reaction time, coordination, and cognition performance typically diminish in older adults, which may lead to gait impairments, falls, and injuries. Regular strength-balance exercises are highly recommended to reduce this problem and to improve health, well-being, and independence in old age. However, many older people face a lack of motivation in addition to other strong barriers to exercise. We developed ActiveLifestyle, an information technology (IT)-based system for active and healthy aging aiming at improving balance and strength. ActiveLifestyle is a training app that runs on a tablet and assists, monitors, and motivates older people to follow personalized training plans autonomously at home. OBJECTIVE: The objectives were to (1) investigate which IT-mediated motivation strategies increase adherence to physical exercise training plans in older people, (2) assess the impact of ActiveLifestyle on physical activity behavior change, and (3) demonstrate the effectiveness of the ActiveLifestyle training to improve gait speed. METHODS: A total of 44 older adults followed personalized, 12-week strength and balance training plans. All participants performed the exercises autonomously at home. Questionnaires were used to assess the technological familiarity and stage of behavior change, as well as the effectiveness of the motivation instruments adopted by ActiveLifestyle. Adherence to the exercise plan was evaluated using performance data collected by the app and through information given by the participants during the study. Pretests and posttests were performed to evaluate gait speed of the participants before and after the study. RESULTS: Participants were 75 years (SD 6), predominantly female (64%), held a trade or professional diploma (54%), and their past profession was in a sitting position (43%). Of the 44 participants who enrolled, 33 (75%) completed the study. The app proved to assist and motivate independently living and healthy older adults to autonomously perform strength-balance exercises (median 6 on a 7-point Likert scale). Social motivation strategies proved more effective than individual strategies to stimulate the participants to comply with the training plan, as well as to change their behavior permanently toward a more physically active lifestyle. The exercises were effective to improve preferred and fast gait speed. CONCLUSIONS: ActiveLifestyle assisted and motivated independently living and healthy older people to autonomously perform strength-balance exercises over 12 weeks and had low dropout rates. The social motivation strategies were more effective to stimulate the participants to comply with the training plan and remain on the intervention. The adoption of assistive technology devices for physical intervention tends to motivate and retain older people exercising for longer periods of time.

Motivating and assisting physical exercise in independently living older adults: a pilot study.

BACKGROUND: With age reaction time, coordination and cognition tend to deteriorate, which may lead to gait impairments, falls and injuries. To reduce this problem in elderly and to improve health, well-being and independence, regular balance and strength exercises are recommended. However, elderly face strong barriers to exercise. OBJECTIVE: We developed Active Lifestyle, an IT-based system for active and healthy aging aiming at improving elderly's balance and strength. Active Lifestyle is a proactive training application, running on a tablet, which assists, monitors and motivates elderly to follow personalized training plans autonomously at home, while integrating them socially. The objective is to run a pilot study to investigate: (i) the feasibility of assisting the autonomous, physical training of independently living elderly with the Active Lifestyle system, (ii) the adherence of the participants to the training plans, and (iii) the effectiveness of the motivation instruments built into the system. METHODS: After three introductory meetings, 13 elderly adults followed personalized two-weeks strength and balance training plans using the Active Lifestyle app autonomously at home. Questionnaires were used to assess the technological familiarity of the participants, the feasibility aspects of the physical intervention, and the effectiveness of the motivation instruments. Adherence to the exercise plan was evaluated using the performance data collected by the app during the study. RESULTS: A total of 13 participants were enrolled, of whom 11 (85%) completed the study (mean age 77 ± 7 years); predominantly females (55%), vocational educated (64%), and their past profession requiring moderate physical activity (64%). The Active Lifestyle app facilitated autonomous physical training at home (median=7 on a 7-point Likert scale), and participants expressed a high intention to use the app also after the end of the study (median=7). Adherence with the training plans was 73% (89% on the balance exercises and 60% on the strength exercises). The outcome from our questionnaires showed that without the app the participants did not feel motivated to perform exercises; with the support of the app they felt more motivated (median=6). Participants were especially motivated by being part of a virtual exercise group and by the capability to automatically monitor their performance (median=6 for both). CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that the Active Lifestyle app prototype has valuable potential to support physical exercise practice at home and it is worthwhile to further develop it into a more mature system. Furthermore, the results add to the knowledge base into mobile-based applications for elderly, in that it shows that elderly users can learn to work with mobile-based systems. The Active Lifestyle app proved viable to support and motivate independently living elderly to autonomously perform balance and strength exercises.

Alternatives to peer review: novel approaches for research evaluation.

In this paper we review several novel approaches for research evaluation. We start with a brief overview of the peer review, its controversies, and metrics for assessing efficiency and overall quality of the peer review. We then discuss five approaches, including reputation-based ones, that come out of the research carried out by the LiquidPub project and research groups collaborated with LiquidPub. Those approaches are alternative or complementary to traditional peer review. We discuss pros and cons of the proposed approaches and conclude with a vision for the future of the research evaluation, arguing that no single system can suit all stakeholders in various communities.