The Impact of a Telephone Reminiscence Program

The prevalence of social isolation and loneliness among older adults is a public health problem. It is reported that 25 % of community-dwelling older adults 65 and older are socially isolated while 43 % of older adults 60 and older feel lonely (Cudge et al., 2020). Research has shown that social isolation and loneliness are associated with cardiovascular disease, stroke, depression, dementia, and mortality (Holjlerda, 2016). Loneliness, in particular, has been identified as a potential predictor of mild cognitive impairment (Bundy, et al., 2021; Sutin et al., 2018; Dahlberg, 2021). As a result of the prevalence data, gerontologists and researchers have cited the need for developing, implementing and testing innovative interventions to address this problem. Reminiscence is one example of a cost-effective intervention shown to decrease loneliness and improve mental health and wellness. STORII is a telephone reminiscence program designed to provide a service that automatically calls older adults three times a week asking them meaningful questions about their lives. The participants have the opportunity to select curated prompts that enable them to record their life stories through the phone. The participants can choose to share them online with their families. Through formative evaluation of the program, the STORII team has noted that their participants to be highly satisfied and highly engaged. As a result of these informal data, it was decided that a more in-depth investigation should be undertaken. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine the impact of the STORII program on reminiscence functions and mental health outcomes in community-dwelling older adults. Participants will be invited to join a telephone reminiscence program designed to provide a service that automatically calls older adults three times a week asking them meaningful questions about their lives. Examples of the questions are "What is the best meal you have ever tasted?", "What is one of your proudest moments?", "What is your earliest memory?". Participants can share as much or as little as they would like. They have up to 10 minutes to record the answers and can end the call at any time by hanging up. There will be no operator on the line that can hear or respond. The participants can choose to share their stories online with their families. All outcome measures will be assessed at baseline (T0), 6-week post-test (T1), and at 12-week follow-up (T2). Participants will complete assessments via phone, by trained research assistants using four questionnaires. Assessments will be completed by research assistants who are not aware of participants' allocation.