Identifying and Addressing Social Isolation among Older Adults Living in Subsidized Housing

项目摘要 社交孤立是指客观上缺乏（或有限）与他人的社会接触。大约四分之一的老年人 成年人是社会孤立的。社会隔离是一个主要的公共卫生问题，也是发病和 死亡率与吸烟、高血压和久坐不动的生活方式相当。社会孤立的老年人 估计每年额外花费医疗保险67亿美元。低收入的老年人有两倍的 与收入较高的人相比，经历社会孤立的可能性更大。中电流老化 预测和报告显示，目前这批美国老年人负债累累，储蓄不足， 对资助房屋的需求有所增加。很少有研究调查低收入人群的社会隔离 居住在补贴住房中的老年人。尽管流行病学证据表明， 社会孤立对健康的有害影响，我们对最佳解决方案的知识存在差距， 确定并解决这一重大公共卫生问题。K23提案建立在候选人的工作基础上 由早期医学/外科专科医师向老龄化研究过渡的赠款资助 （GEMSSTAR，R 03）以促进我们对社会隔离的促进因素和障碍的理解， 住在补贴住房的老年人。利用这些见解，由NIH指导的K23提案 行为干预发展阶段模型，将进行基础研究（NIH阶段0）， 描述老年人的社会孤立及其与个人和结构因素的关系 居住在补贴住房中，以确定参与者的特征，这些特征将为制定 干预这些发现将为创建（NIH Stage 1A）和试点（NIH Stage 1B）提供信息。 以住房为基础的社会隔离干预试点。这一创新的建议采用了跨学科的 方法，并为新的方法奠定基础，以确定和解决社会隔离， 老年人住在补贴住房。这项建议将支持研究和职业发展的 候选人，谁的目标是成为一个独立的临床研究人员专注于发展和 实施以社区为基础的干预措施，改善低收入老年人的健康。

PROJECT SUMMARY Social isolation is the objective lack of (or limited) social contact with others. Approximately 1 in 4 older adults are socially isolated. Social isolation is a major public health issue and a risk factor for morbidity and mortality comparable to smoking, hypertension, and a sedentary lifestyle. Socially isolated older adults cost Medicare an estimated additional $6.7 billion each year. Low income older adults have two times the odds of experiencing social isolation compared to those with higher incomes. Amidst current aging projections and reports that the current cohort of older Americans have high debt and insufficient savings, the demand for subsidized housing has increased. Few studies examine social isolation among low income older adults living in subsidized housing. Despite epidemiologic evidence demonstrating the deleterious effects of social isolation on health, gaps exist in our knowledge regarding the best solutions to identify and address this major public health problem. This K23 proposal builds upon the candidates’ work funded by the Grants for Early Medical/Surgical Subspecialists’ Transitioning to Aging Research (GEMSSTAR, R03) to advance our understanding of the facilitators and barriers of social isolation among older adults living in subsidized housing. Leveraging these insights, this K23 proposal, guided by the NIH Stage Model for Behavioral Intervention Development, will conduct basic research (NIH Stage 0) to characterize social isolation and its relationship with individual and structural factors among older adults living in subsidized housing to identify participant characteristics that will inform the development of an intervention. These findings will inform the creation (NIH Stage 1A) and piloting (NIH Stage 1B) of a housing-based social isolation intervention pilot. This innovative proposal employs a transdisciplinary approach and builds the foundation for novel approaches to identify and address social isolation among older living in subsidized housing. This proposal will support the research and career development of the candidate, who aims to become an independent clinician investigator focused on developing and implementing community-based interventions that improve the health of low-income older adults.