Effects of social leisure engagement on the psychological, cognitive, and physical wellbeing of older adults

本研究旨在探讨社会休闲参与（包括或促进社会互动的活动）对老年人心理、认知和身体健康的影响，并确定增加参与的重要方法。在英国，四分之一的人口年龄在55岁或以上。由于抑郁、认知能力下降和健康状况恶化的风险增加，老龄化给人们的日常生活带来了挑战，这些风险往往与减少的社交休闲活动相互作用。社会休闲参与被认为是一种支持健康老龄化的可改变行为，它包含有效成分（构成活动的组成部分），可以激活各种机制，将社会休闲参与与健康改善联系起来。然而，它仍有待实证检验(a)社会休闲参与是否对老年人的福祉有长期影响，(b)结果是否因活动所涉及的有效成分而变化，(c)潜在的中介是什么，(d)这种关联是否因人口亚群体而变化，以及(e)促进老年人参与的个人、社会文化和环境因素是什么。为了回答这些问题，该项目将使用定量方法分析两个英国纵向数据集，国家儿童发展研究和英国老龄化纵向研究，并运行10个在线定性焦点小组，参与者年龄在55岁及以上。我们将探讨三个广泛的社交和休闲活动类别，每个类别中都有相似的活性成分：>以社区为基础的活动，包括联系、合作和社区意识，如社交俱乐部、志愿服务、体育团体；>以资产为基础的活动，包括感官和认知刺激和审美参与，如电影、博物馆、剧院、绿地。至于幸福感，我们将重点关注：>心理健康，如：认知健康，如记忆力、执行功能、计算能力和读写能力>身体健康，如跌倒/骨折、疼痛、精力/疲劳这项研究将使学术界内外的利益相关者受益。对于保健服务提供者而言，该项目将有助于为制定与社会休闲参与有关的社会处方计划提供信息。对于政策制定者来说，该项目将帮助他们了解如何利用现有的文化、创意和自然环境资产来支持老年人的福祉，并强调未来的资金将在哪些方面产生最大的影响。对于文化和社区组织而言，该项目将为如何开展更具包容性和吸引新受众的活动提供见解。对于老年人来说，这个项目将有助于了解影响他们自己参与的因素，以及他们如何以及为什么希望增加参与，以支持健康老龄化。为了成功地吸引这些受众，该项目将由一个跨部门咨询委员会监督，并将纳入一系列影响和公众参与活动。其中包括同行评议的出版物、会议发言、教材、政策和实践总结报告、博客和简报、网络研讨会、媒体研究博客以及国际知识交流圆桌会议。通过确定社会休闲参与对健康的长期影响，并绘制出参与的重要促成因素，该项目有可能提高社会休闲活动的参与率。在制定和制定将社会休闲干预措施纳入旨在支持健康老龄化的公共卫生服务和战略的计划时，它也可以作为证据。

This research aims to explore the impact of social leisure engagement (activities that include or facilitate social interaction) on older adults' psychological, cognitive, and physical wellbeing, and to identify important ways to increase engagement. In the UK, one-fourth of the population is aged 55 or above. Ageing poses challenges to one's everyday life due to increased risk of depression, cognitive decline, and deteriorating health, which often interplay with reduced social leisure engagement. Social leisure engagement is considered a modifiable behaviour that supports healthy ageing, which contains active ingredients (components that make up an activity) that can activate various mechanisms to connect social leisure engagement with wellbeing improvements.However, it remains to be tested empirically (a) if social leisure engagement has long-term impacts on older adults' wellbeing, (b) if the outcomes vary depending on the active ingredients involved in the activity, (c) what the potential mediators are, (d) if the association varies by population subgroups, and (e) what the individual, socio-cultural and environmental factors are that facilitate engagement amongst older adults. To answer these questions, this project will use quantitative methods to analyse two British longitudinal datasets, the National Child Development Study and the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, and run 10 online qualitative focus groups with participants aged 55 and above. We will explore three broad social and leisure activity categories that share similar active ingredients within each category: >Workshop-based activities which involve group learning, formal structure and intellectual stimulation, e.g., arts/music groups, evening classes>Community-based activities which involve affiliation, collaboration and community awareness, e.g., social clubs, volunteering, sports groups>Asset-based activities which involve sensory and cognitive stimuli and aesthetic engagement, e.g., cinema, museum, the theatre, green spaceFor wellbeing outcomes, we will focus on:>Psychological wellbeing, e.g., loneliness, depression, life satisfaction>Cognitive wellbeing, e.g., memory, executive functioning, numeracy, and literacy skills>Physical wellbeing, e.g., falls/fractures, pain, energy/fatigueThis research will benefit stakeholders within and beyond the academic community. For health service providers, this project will help inform the development of social prescribing schemes relating to the social leisure engagement. For policymakers, the project will help inform how they can make use of existing cultural, creative, and nature environment assets to support wellbeing as people age, and highlight where future funding will have the greatest impact. For cultural and community organisations, this project will provide insight into how activities can be developed to be more inclusive and to reach new audiences. For older people, this project will help to understand the factors that influence their own engagement and how and why they may want to increase their engagement to support healthy ageing. To successfully engage with these audiences, this project will be overseen by a cross-sector advisory board and will incorporate a series of impact and public engagement activities. These include peer-reviewed publications, conference presentations, teaching materials, summary reports for policy and practice, blogs and briefings, a webinar, a research blog for media outlets, and an international knowledge exchange roundtable. By identifying the long-term impact of social leisure engagement on wellbeing and mapping out the important enablers of engagement, this project has the potential to increase engagement rates in social leisure activities. It can also be used as evidence when formulating and developing schemes to integrate social leisure interventions into public health services and strategies that aim to support healthy ageing.